Looking to buy a 1950s colonial home where the previous owners at some point opened up the floor plan. They opened up between the kitchen/dining room and between the living/dining room. We suspect the load-bearing wall is between the living/dining room based on looking at many colonials of a similar style. Many people remove the wall between kitchen/dining rooms, but we don't often see the living/dining room wall removed (it always has a large opening, but in this case the rest of the wall on one side is taken out all the way). It's probably pointless to describe without pictures.

Anyway, how can we tell for sure that they put in the proper support? I requested info from the city but since the work must have been done prior to 1996 (unless it was originally built like this, which I doubt), there's no permit info immediately available (I did request a search, which takes more time) OR they didn't pull permits for the work. In any case, it's not the current sellers that did the work so they don't have the info we need.

I did contact a structural engineering office and they advised that even their inspections are visual only - they can't tell what is/was a load-bearing wall (esp. since the basement is fully finished) or whether there's proper support under the drywall/plaster. And of course the regular house inspection will not tell us that either. What are our options? There are no visible sagging or cracks, so it doesn't seem to be failing, but I'm picturing bringing in our heavy furniture (and us heavy people) and I'm getting concerned. Any advice? Thanks!