Bearing wall ?
EW
I have a 1100 sq feet bungalow. It was built in 1979. When you come in
from the front door, there are living room and dining room on the left;
kitchen on the right. It has 3 bedrooms and toilet in the back. There is
also a 36" wide X 29" deep cloth closet just about 5 feet away from the
front door. It sit on its own right between the left dinning room and the
right kitchen. It doesn't attach to any interior or exterior wall. But as
it situated right in front of the front door, it block the view to the house
when you walk into it. I am planning to tear down the clothe closet. I am
sure it will create a good openness feeling when I walk into the house.
The problem is I am not sure if any of this closet wall will form a part of
a bearing wall for the house. I need some advice how to identify it. If I
crawl into the attics, can I find any clues.
I was told that the new roof struss does not need any inside bearing wall;
the bearing wall will be all the exterior walls. Is this true ?
There is another question. I notice that there is a wooden beam in the
basement ceiling running from the front door all the way the the back of the
house. This beam is roughly at the centre. The joist for the main floor
run from left to right, i.e. parallel to the front door. The joist for the
roof run perpendicular to the front door; i.e. from front to back. The
clothe closet sit on top of the wooden beam. I just wonder if this has any
bearing duty or it's just happend to be there. Please advise.
One last question. There is a closed space for the furnace chimney to run
from the basement to the roof. Can I put a return air duct into this closed
space ? Because there is a return air intake in one of the closet wall, if
I tear it down, I have to move it somewhere else. The easiest way for me is
to make use of that closed space to run a return air duct, then put it
through another wall on the main floor. I am worrying about fume or even
carbon monoxide may leak into the return air duct or main floor. Please
advise.
P.S. My basement is already developed. The ceiling is all covered.
Sorry for this long story. Your response is really appreciated.
ewoo.
Bill Martin
If your roof is built with trusses (usually 2x4 with metal plates) then
only the outer walls are load bearing. It sounds like the closet is not
structural.
Bill
EW
The roof is built with struss that are of "umbrella" pattern. Do you think
it's ok ?
ewoo.
P.S. I checked with some books they say the pattern that I have is umbrella
type.
Bill Martin <wam...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:379630...@ix.netcom.com...
Be...@doowah.com
(ceiling joists) which break at or near their point of contact with
the wall you wish to remove. If nothing breaks on or near that wall,
and the member size (2x6, 2x8) is enough to span without that wall,
you may remove it without adding support. If any of the conditions
stated above apply to that wall, you will need to insert a header to
accept the load.
Dmitriy Levsh
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Anthony Ippolito
Check the roof rafters. If they go front to back and the wall runs side then the
chances are that the will is bearing.
As for roof trusses: They are constructed with bearing points and the best way
to tell is look in the attic if there is an upright member at the bearing wall
then the chances are that the trusses use that wall for bearing.
If you are not sure yet, then I suggest you contact an engineer or an architect
in your area.
The removal of this wall, if bearing may be a dangerous move..
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For Residential & Commercial Construction
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Maven
think
> it's ok ?
front of the closet, then they derive no structural support from the closet.
As for the flue, as long as it is tight and double walled there should be no
problem ganging the return air with it in the same chase .You seem to worry
a goodly amount about the bearing walls, but the scary part ( i.e. the stuff
that is more likely to kill you or destroy your house) is messing around
with your furnace. Re routing the output or supply ducting is no big worry
but DO NOT mess around with the combustion air supply or the exhaust flue
without being VERY sure you are doing it right. There are the kinds of areas
that turn happy families into sad footnotes on the second page of the local
section of the news paper.
Craig W.
<snip>
> ..... I am planning to tear down the clothe closet. I am
> sure it will create a good openness feeling when I walk into
> the house.
> The problem is I am not sure if any of this closet wall will
> form a part of a bearing wall for the house. I need some
> advice how to identify it.
From your description I would guess that it's not load bearing.
The easiest way to positively identify it will be to get an
engineer to take a look at it and get him/her to answer any
other queries you may have.
This'll be a lot cheaper than you knocking down a wall and
then watching your house turn into a pile of rubble ;-)
> I was told that the new roof struss does not need any
> inside bearing wall; the bearing wall will be all the
> exterior walls. Is this true ?
Maybe, maybe not.
TTfn,
Craig
EW
Thanks for your advice. I am not touching the flues or the supply air duct
of the furnace. I am just wonder if I could feed another return air duct in
the same space the flues go up to the roof. Sounds like I better not to do
that. You never know when will the flue have problem and leaks into the
space.
ew
Maven <bfob...@concentricNOSPAM.net> wrote in message
news:7n8a1i$3...@journal.concentric.net...
bcurry
interior walls aren't bearing. So moving your closet is ok. It is important
that the roof structure is really a truss, engineered and manufactured in a
factory. If you don't know, don't guess.
The beam under the floor is supporting only the floor and interior wall
partitions. Again, this assumes a roof truss system.
You can run a return air duct as you imagine. Carbon monoxide is generated
by the burning of gas in your furnace so the return air duct won't affect
it. If you've got co2 in your air, you probably need to replace your
furnace.
bob curry
EW <ew...@oanet.com> wrote in message news:37962...@news.oanet.com...
> Hi there....
>
> I have a 1100 sq feet bungalow. It was built in 1979. When you come in
> from the front door, there are living room and dining room on the left;
> kitchen on the right. It has 3 bedrooms and toilet in the back. There is
> also a 36" wide X 29" deep cloth closet just about 5 feet away from the
> front door. It sit on its own right between the left dinning room and the
> right kitchen. It doesn't attach to any interior or exterior wall. But
as
> it situated right in front of the front door, it block the view to the
house
> when you walk into it. I am planning to tear down the clothe closet. I
am
> sure it will create a good openness feeling when I walk into the house.
>
> The problem is I am not sure if any of this closet wall will form a part
of
> a bearing wall for the house. I need some advice how to identify it. If
I
> crawl into the attics, can I find any clues.
>
> I was told that the new roof struss does not need any inside bearing wall;
> the bearing wall will be all the exterior walls. Is this true ?
>
Janet &Frank
to support them but in some case they do. (ie ..if say..the span is over
60')
2nd No it just happened to be there. LUCK of fate
3rd I would not suggest you use the chimney chase for a duct chase for the
reason you described.
If I helped you in any way let me know through my guest book
"http://www.angelfire.com/howtopage/co2/index.html
I'm just getting started on the above site and maybe I can help you in
the future.
FRANK
rob
cannot answer door with girlfriend in living room when were relaxing...before
she was private now she has to leave room ..i also find strangers oggling my
goodies when i answer door ...even a glance can bring back a theif..