load-bearing wall

[Marina95]

Good afternoon,

I am thinking of renovating my house and I would like to change the layout. How can I know if it is a load-bearing wall or not? I would like to join the kitchen with the living room if possible.

Thank you!

 

[GuillermoHZ]

Good afternoon,

The ideal way to find out is with the construction plans of the house.
But if you do not have them I would look at the type of walls.
I recommend you to contact a specialist.

 

[Pablo Hernandez Zamora]

Nowdays the buildings have not usually been built with load-bearing walls for about 20 years.
If your building is more than 20 years old, possibly has load-bearing walls, these usually separate homes, not rooms, so to have a load-bearing wall, this would be located on the wall that separates your house from the neighbor's house.
I hope I have helped you,

 

[BridgeSmith]

The only safe assumption is that all walls are load bearing until a structural engineer has evaluated the structural system and reports that they're not.

And no, you can't assume that there are no internal bearing walls if it was built in the last 20 years. Houses are still designed and built with internal load bearing walls today.

Rod Smith, P.E., The artist formerly known as HotRod10

 

[phamENG]

Nowdays the buildings have not usually been built with load-bearing walls for about 20 years.

Huh. Well I guess I've been doing it wrong. Perhaps I should turn in my engineering license?

As Rod said, you need a structural engineer to evaluate it. A good contractor can tell, but I've seen more than a few get it wrong, so it's best to get an engineer. I design between one to two houses a week, and they all have bearing walls. Exterior walls and interior walls. Wherever they are needed to carry load to the foundation.