I want to remove the closets that are in the hallway off of my garage so I can install new cabinets for a mud-room. I want to make sure the closets are not load bearing before I remove. Here are some details:
From the garage you open the door and walk in, directly in front of you is the laundry room and if you turn right you are in the hallway that leads straight to a 1/2 bathroom and turning left in that hallway gets you to the kitchen. The right side of the hallway are 2 closets, with a dividing wall between them. From the garage wall, the closets are roughly 30" deep. The basement and attic above/below the closets have the joists run north-south. The closet divider and wall next to garage entry door run east-west. However, there are no supporting beams in the basement under these closet walls, and the closet walls don’t run the entire length of the attic.
The picture below shows the opening to the closet, this opening runs parallel with the joists above it, but the wall that makes a right angle with it is perpendicular.
So is it safe to remove the entire thing? According to all my Googling, the only thing that might make this load bearing is that this 30" wall run perpendicular to the attic joists, while only hitting 2 out of 10 joists in the attic. Other than that, it doesn't have any support under them in the basement.
Thanks!
Best Answer
No. The front of your closets are not load bearing. The back of them could be - probable.
Upon updates of the red Xs...
Left one (front) - no way in the world unless it is a metal beam (it isn't).
Right one (side of closet) - 99.9% chance no. When you open it up you can double check by looking at header.