Hello everyone,

I'm a structural engineer who is currently working on residential-type projects and I seem to be getting conflicting information about what to do when a client wants to remove a non-load bearing wall. So, say you have a contractor call you up asking you for a letter for the city stating that the wall he is removing is non-loadbearing. You then look at the framing and determine that, yes, it is indeed a non-load bearing wall. What do you do at that point? On one hand, I've had colleagues who just write the letter, they remove the wall, done. However, I've had another colleague who felt that removing the wall (even though it's nonloadbearing) was going to affect the building's stability and, therefore, shearwalls are needed nearby to account for that which was removed. What do you think?