I recently purchased a small home in a very rural area (in other words, no original blue prints at the recorder of deeds). The home is sitting on a concrete slab and is a single level. I have attached my own rough floor plan identifying a wall that I would like to remove to open up the kitchen into the living room (and add a load bearing beam). Originally I believed that it was a load bearing wall since it runs perpendicular to the rafters. However, when my father-in-law looked at the floor plan he thought that it was not load bearing since there is an additional 10 feet from the end of the wall to the edge of the home with no walls or headers (see left side of floor plan). Short of calling in an engineer, are there any other things I could check to determine if this wall is load bearing?
Walls – Determine load bearing wall
framingstructuralwalls
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Best Answer
I’d check: 1) roof framing, 2) top plate, 3) sole plate fasters, 4) wall sheathing
1) If the roof framing is identical over the “no wall” area as the “wall to be removed” area, then I’d assume it is not a load bearing wall.
2) If there’s a single top plate at the wall to be removed, then that would give additional indication that it’s not load bearing.
3) If there are no bolts with over sized washers (3” sq. Washers) in the wall to be removed, then that is an indication that it’s not a load bearing.
4) If there’s no wall sheathing (plywood, OSB board, etc.) then it’s not a lateral resistance wall.
If all indications are “negative”, then I’d assume it’s okay to remove.
Note: I did not mention checking for a footing, because you indicated your house is slab-on-grade.