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Interior Load-Bearing Wall under W-Truss Roof ??

17 years ago

How common is it to find an interior load bearing wall under a W-Truss roof? I'd like to remove a 6ft section of wall between my Living Room and Kitchen/Dining Room. My house was built in 1976, is 24x48ft, and has a simple truss roof, 4:12 pitch and gable ends. Removing the wall would create a 14x24ft open room.

My roof trusses (above and perpendicular to the wall I want to remove) are a standard Fink/W design. The bottom chord on a Fink truss is not a continuous 2x4 -- it's 2 pieces spliced together slightly off center. My bottom chords consist of a 10ft long 2x4 and a 14ft long 2x4 spliced together by galvanized braces. On some of the trusses, that splice is resting on the wall I want to remove. On other trusses, the bottom chord splice is floating above openings where there is no wall underneath. In other word, there are some trusses that span the entire 24' wide house with no wall under them, and there are others that have wall under them. As far as I can see in the attic with the insulation removed, all the trusses are exactly the same.

So what's the probability that this 6ft section of wall is load bearing? Theoretically, there are no interior load bearing walls below a roof built with standard W-trusses. The exterior walls support the weight of the roof. Is it a common thing to find interior load-bearing walls under a simple W-truss roof?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

sierraeast
17 years ago
with your trusses spanning the exterior walls for the full run of the house, no interior walls will be load bearing.The splices on trusses are engineered to be self supportive according to the plate sizing.The fact that they land over an interior wall has nothing to do with that wall being load bearing.Trusses are engineered to span exterior wall to exterior wall self supporting. For peace of mind, an evaluation by a structural engineer would be money well spent in the event that you have a circumstance that im not getting by reading your post.
Andrew Chapin
6 years ago
What did you offically find out?
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Thanks for the input. My house is a ranch, so there's nothing to support above it, but the roof. We're taking out a load bearing wall that separates the living room from dining room, and the contractor will replace this with a flush beam. One end of the beam will be supported by an outside wall and the other end will terminate on a small wall that sits over a post in the basement. I get the feeling that my contractor has done this a lot and feels pretty comfortable with that arrangement. Meanwhile, I've noticed that my living room runs the full width of the house (24') with no support other than a homemade truss arrangement for the roof, that I understand was common in the early 1960's. This arrangement has stood the test of time, so I guess it's okay, but I still get a bit nervous when there's a large amount of snow on the roof. I had asked the contractor about installing a beam over the living room as well, but he was a bit more hesitant about that, and merely said he would look at it when he starts the kitchen work. So I guess the answer is that an engineer would be needed to decide if/how additional support could be provided in the living room. That's probably why my contractor is hesitant to give me a firm answer.
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We just recently built a house owner/builder. Our interior walls were up before the trusses, but like PPF stated above, the trusses sat on the exterior walls for support and didn't need the interior walls. That said, I designed the house to have a very simple roof. If you have a complicated roof, you might have some interior bearing walls which means some of your trusses have to sit on the interior walls for support. The other problem could be that due to the current building boom, truss manufactures are really busy. Last year, our trusses were almost 4 weeks delayed. I think this year things are worse.
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Live_wire_oak, I certainly wouldn’t dispute that most contractors would not use double 2x4’s for a header despite what the code allows (and therefore what is safe). I suspect that you and I know there are many things a contractor does when framing a house that has more to do with just meeting code. It’s much easier to tell your employees to frame every door and window with 2x12s to be safe and not have to do code checks for every opening. I will say though, the better framers in the small minority will take the time to understand what the actual header requirement is so as not to overbuild and create unnecessary thermal bridging.
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With all due respect for experienced framers and their willingness to serve as structural experts in exchange for adult beverages, without looking at the design calculations for the trusses in your home, I don't think you can reach a conclusion one way or the other. Trusses can be, and are often designed to clear span a space (i.e., no interior bearing walls), but interior walls may be included in the design to reduce the span and reduce the size/cost of the trusses. Interior walls may also serve to resist shear or truss uplift. You've got two differing engineering opinions. Like every profession--from mechanics to brain surgeons--different practitioners may disagree on the recommended course of action. If the calculations make clear the structural need for the interior wall, I would submit them to the engineer who said the wall was not necessary and have him provide convincing evidence to the contrary or cheerfully refund your money.
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millworkman
6 years ago
Andrew Chapin, you are better off asking on your own thread and posting all the pertinent info. This thread is 11 years old and from appearances the OP has not ever been back since or at least in a number of years.
Rudy Kirsh
2 years ago
I doubt any residential property with trusses has any interior load bearing walks both outside walks are load bearing. And I'd say all commercial building with trusses wjth interior walks are definitely load bearing not residential . Me I would treat it as a load bearing wall building 2 posts Anda large beam the span of the wall to be removed . Or better build two walks the. Height of the wall to be removed and 3 foot longer with studs 3 foot o.c on center first then remove the wall. If I seen it . I'd know in a minute if it was. But I seriously doubt it is with house trusses only your exterior walls that run the length of the home are load bearing . W trusses . If the home has floor joists on a second floor that's the only time it would be load bearing....
Rudy Kirsh
2 years ago
Walls not walks

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