Truss Roof Load Bearing Walls

If a wall is located on the ground floor go down to the basement to observe the ceiling beams.

Truss roof load bearing walls.

It most likely is a load bearing wall even without the hvac unit taken in consideration. Truss roofs are typically designed to use some interior walls as mid span support to save on costs associated with making the truss larger stronger. If the wall in question is parallel to the joists trusses it will likely not be load bearing. The roof trusses are too long to span the whole house so the load bearing wall runs down the center of the house to support the trusses at the perpendicular intersection in the middle.

Most simple construction truss roof home s roof and trusses are supported by the exterior walls perpendicular to the trusses. A truss roof is a type of roof construction used commonly today through out residential construction. If there is a gap between the top of wall and each truss then clearly the wall is not load bearing and you need only evaluate the contribution of the center wall to lateral stability of the house which is something an engineer can do for you. An example of a load bearing wall call be seen on the right.

The trusses usually rely on the external walls only to support the roof structure leaving the internal walls more or less built in between as partitions dividing up the home. We usually build on the exterior walls set the trusses and do all of the chord blocking and truss bracing before building the interior walls since it is easier to roll a scaffold around on an empty open floor. An example of a non load bearing partition wall can be seen on the left. When joists trusses are perpendicular to the wall and bear on the top of the wall that wall is bearing wall.

Engineered roof truss systems may be designed to eliminate the need for load bearing walls or change where the bearing walls are located. You will need an engineer involved in this since many contractors will tell you anything to get the job. Being a load bearing wall it should be made of structural grade timber it s not it should have a large high strength continuous beam running the entire width of it it doesn t and it should be tied down to the roof trusses again it isn t.