Any major work in your house starts with the process of finding out the strength of your load bearing wall and their load bearing capacity. These load bearing walls are responsible for providing strength to your house and any slight change in their structure cab cause major problems in the overall structure or strength of your wall. Generally the external walls are the load bearing wall, and they support the major weight of the roof. You can even consult a structural engineer for the overall loading capacity of the wall. We are going to discuss the steps for installing and understanding different aspects of load bearing wall.
Find Load Bearing Wall In Your House
If you are planning to have some major renovation work in your office then it is important for you to understand the difference between load bearing wall and non load bearing wall. Load bearing wall is one of the most important structures of the house and it decides the overall strength of your house. The main purpose of a load bearing wall is to hold a structure or transfer its weight from one section to another. There can be major consequences of removing a load bearing wall and it can also lead to collapsing of the overall structure supported by the wall.
Any major renovation requires proper knowledge of the load bearing wall of the house and it can be comparatively difficult in new structures. In olden times, the construction was done in a manner so that all the exterior walls are load bearing. But with the change in style, most of the new houses have load bearing wall only in the front and back portion of your house. You can contact home improvement services to help you with the renovation or you can follow some simple tips for identifying the load bearing wall in your house. In case of homes with a basement, one should start from the basement or in the other case, the best place to start is the concrete pad of your house. There are different home owner services providing services in these kind of renovation and construction work.
You have to look for the walls which are based over the foundation walls because these walls are the walls supporting the roof of the house. These are load bearing walls and these are very important for the strength of the house. In addition to it, all the exterior walls resting on the foundation of the building are load bearing. Generally if you are looking for load bearing wall in a old fashioned house, then most of the exterior walls work as load bearers and it is quite easy to identify them. Now let us consider first and second floor of the house, any wall in the centre of the house is load bearing wall in most of the cases. At the same time, walls that are level with the first floor joists are non load bearing walls. A wall that is level perpendicular to floor joists is a load bearing wall. So it is comparatively easy to identify load bearing wall. Moreover walls ending in large posts are load bearing in nature and one should be very careful while replacing or shifting them.
DIY Guide For Removing Load Bearing Wall
We all know that load bearing wall is very crucial for the overall stability of your house and if you are planning for a DIY operation for your load bearing wall, then it is important that you are fully prepared as well as educated for the job. We are going to discuss the process of removing a load bearing wall.
First of all you have to identify that whether the wall is a load bearing wall or non-load bearing. You can use the tips stated above or even consult an expert for his advice. The best way is to consult an expert as he will also give proper advice for your DIY operation. Load bearing wall carries the weight of your house, so you have to place scaffold boards running to the height of your ceiling. Place these on either sides of the involved wall before starting with removal procedure. If there are signs of springing of the roof then make sure to arrange props for the wall and you also need to lift the floorboards to a comfortable height. Make sure that you are having needles which can be used on the jacks just above the location of the props. Any brickwork project will require more work on your part, you have to fit the needles through walls. It involves some preparation on your part before you can use needles, like you have to mark the places for using these needles. Once marking is done, cut away the plaster and then use a chisel for making a hole of appropriate size.
While working on a load bearing wall, one need to start working right from the top of the wall. Use a club hammer for hacking off the plaster from the wall. Clear the plaster under you can see the underlying brickwork and then use a bolster for cutting out the brickwork in front of you. Keep in mind that in case you are removing a load bearing wall, then replace it with a permanent header that can bear the weight supported by the wall at the first place. Next step is to install a beam at the same place so that the building does not lose its strength. First of all you have to setup a platform for moving the beam up for the opening. Next part is to properly measure the space which will be needed for fitting the beam. Now it is time to bed the pad stones with mortar at the top end of the opening of the wall. Next step involves lifting the beam up to the height and then placing it at the desired place. If there are any holes or gaps in the place from where the load bearing wall was removed, fill it with mortar or pieces of slate left over. Keep the structure as it is for at least 2 days and then remove the additional items placed along the beam. This is the best way for handling an operation involving load bearing wall.