In a house that has an unfinished basement or easily accessible wall finding the beams.
Identify load bearing roof.
Note the direction the roof ridge runs.
How to identify a load bearing wall understand the structure.
Examine the roof structure from outside.
Generally when the wall in question runs parallel to the floor joists above it is not a load bearing wall.
A structural wall actually carries the weight of your house from the roof and upper floors.
The important thing to remember is that if a wall is load bearing it is transferring that load to something underneath it.
How to find a load bearing wall 1.
However there are cases where a bearing wall is parallel to the joists.
If the wall is located directly under the attic you can go up there to study the positions of the beams and joists.
Using this technique you ll get a better idea of the location of the load bearing walls in your house.
Floor ceiling and roof loads from above are common loads that bear down on a bearing wall.
Load bearing walls typically run in.
Look inside the attic if possible to identify the direction in which the rafters or joists travel.
Enter the basement and inspect the.
Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction.
They typically are carrying and transferring a load from one point to another.
Look at the floor joists.
But if the wall runs perpendicular at a 90 degree angle to the joists there is a good chance that it is load bearing.
Start at the foundation.