removing an interior wall? is it load bearing?

[duncanshannon]

Hi-

I'm trying to remove some walls.  Today its a closet and its supposed to become an open space that I'm going to stick some of the Ikea wardrobes in - instead of the closet.

Here is the picture as is... with some markings of what I want to remove.



Its in the north west corner of my house. You can see the window on the north side exterior wall. You can see light shining on the wall from the wast side (gable end) exterior wall.  Its a 2nd floor room on a 2 story house.

Given the trusses run north to south (parallel to the closet doors) and that its a 2nd story room below the attic, i was expecting that I could remove all the wall segments that I had hoped to.  Plan is to remove all the wall up to the ceiling - so 8' high.

I had a structural engineer out here a while ago and asked him if I could remove these and he thought so. He didnt see or draw any plans, I just walked him around my house and asked him about cracks, talked about plans to remove walls, add windows etc.

The presence of the header spooked me.

What do you think... can i remove the two sections of walls w/o problems?

I googled for about 30 minutes but most things talked about looking at your joists or in the basement.  I thought that, since this was the 2nd floor of a 2 story house that NONE of the walls would be load bearing because of the trusses carying the load to the exterior walls only.  Is that right?  (its pretty much a 24 x 34 rectangle house - nothing fancy).

This picture is from stainding in front of the closet facing south west - header is above the closet door other is the 'top' of the doorway/opening into the bathroom.



i'm feeling kinda stuck - in the middle of the demo

thanks!

[duncanshannon]

I dug up the engineers report... which says 'go for it'

just spooked by the header i guess.

You plan to remodel the bathroom in the northeast corner of the upper level and you were
unsure about whether the walls can be removed.  I said that because the roof is framed
with roof trusses it is very likely that the walls are non-load-bearing and that the walls
can be safely removed.  Cracks and gaps between partitions and the ceiling are not
uncommon, often floors will settle a bit more than the roof (more shrinkage of the floor
joists among other things).  The best way to avoid cracks and gaps is to not connect the
ceiling to the roof trusses within 16" of the partition and do connect the ceiling to
blocking on top of the partition, that way the ceiling can flex and not crack or gap.  The
top plates of the partitions can be connected to the trusses or blocking between the trusses
using slotted clips such as "Simpson STC".

ps. he's right, its the north east, not north west, corner.

[duncanshannon]

another photo with more exposed

[Don_P]

I'd agree with the report. I'll often header even non load bearing if I have the material left over from something else. It's quicker, easier, stronger and gives plenty of nailing for trim later.

popcorn ceiling... good luck with the patching.

[duncanshannon]

well... took it all out. its prob. a 26' outside to outside wall span for the trusses.  taking out the wall that is perpendicular to the trusses made a 5'6" opening.  

talked to my 'guy' (former contractor) and he said taking it out should be no problem - even if some header/support needs to be put in later.  left one 2x4 in at the 'corner' to protect the one stinkin electrical run that goes from the attic to the first floor.  will need to explore that later too.

email in to the engineer - will sort that out this week i guess.

[duncanshannon]

hey don - thanks for the reply.  makes me feel better that you concur! 

popcorn celing.. yeah. hate those. its coming out at some point - so not going to try and patch it now.

[duncanshannon]

Just to close this one out... confirmed with the engineer that everything should be good to take out. No walls directly under it and trusses above it.  Time to remove!

thanks
duncan