I live in a 5 story condo, on 2nd floor.
I wanted to remove this foyer (in picture labeled as ENTRY). I see joists running across the room, left to right in the picture. The structural engineer came out and said it seems to be load bearing. He calculated for the room to be too wide for joists to span from wall to kitchen wall, so the foyer must support them. However, he's confused as to what is holding up the joists past the foyer, into the room. (towards the balcony)
As you can see in the plans, only a few walls are designated as structural. I am no expert, but this seems too few. Is structural wall the same as load bearing ?
I am still trying to find actual structural plans and not architectural ones, but I wanted to ask the community and what people think.
Thank you for your time.
Best Answer
Yeah, that plan is of no use. If anything it's just depicting where 2x6's were to be used, which doesn't mean they were used. ALL exterior walls would have to be Load Bearing. If all of the floors have the same layout then everything's Load Bearing.
The place is broken up into, roughly, 3 14-foot spans, with of course just the Linen Closet to the Entry portion having 16-foot sticks under it. And, your "Engineer" is a moron. Simply put. What's above you & what's below you is what matters & solely determines Load Bearing or Connecting. Not whether he "only knows" of 14-foot sticks ever being as the longest lumber. Laughable.
You'll have to get a Carpenter, but I think the only thing you could possibly remove would be just the wall across from the Entry Door & removal of the shelf's half-wall only, between the dining room.