How To Tell Load Bearing Wall With Truss Roof

Engineered roof truss systems may be designed to eliminate the need for load bearing walls or change where the bearing walls are located.

How to tell load bearing wall with truss roof.

An example of a non load bearing partition wall can be seen on the left. If a wall is located on the ground floor go down to the basement to observe the ceiling beams. If the wall in question is parallel to the joists trusses it will likely not be load bearing. We usually build on the exterior walls set the trusses and do all of the chord blocking and truss bracing before buildin.

But there are five possible exceptions to look out for. An example of a load bearing wall call be seen on the right. For example a gable end truss may be designed with support members that transmit the roof weight load outward to the side walls allowing the end wall directly below it to have breaks or openings in it that would otherwise be impossible. Most simple construction truss roof home s roof and trusses are supported by the exterior walls perpendicular to the trusses.

Look for the signs of big sturdy wooden or metal structures crossing a room s ceiling and intersecting a wall that you know is load bearing or an external wall like boxy horizontal protrusions crossing the ceiling. One top plate and a space between the bottom chord of the truss and the top of the wall non load bearing. But if the wall runs perpendicular at a 90 degree angle to the joists there is a good chance that it is load bearing. If there are two plates refer to an engineer.

Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction. Generally when the wall in question runs parallel to the floor joists above it is not a load bearing wall. Chances are this is a non bearing wall. Using this technique you ll get a better idea of the location of the load bearing walls in your house.

Actually a quick way to determine if the wall is bearing is to cut hole at the top to see if it has one or two top plates. However there are cases where a bearing wall is parallel to the joists. If you see these nearby internal walls may not be load bearing.