Load bearing wall - partial removal

Hello DIY forum,

New home owner with a question about removing part of a wall that separates the kitchen from the living room. I have not spoken to any contractors yet, waiting to to hear back from the bank. I would just like to hear some input from others with similar situations. Likewise, I completely understand and agree with consulting a professional on this matter.

The prior home owner recently upgraded the kitchen and I was fortunate enough to receive construction before/during photos. I would like to remove roughly 3' of a wall the extends from the kitchen and into the living room. Please view the images for further detail. In the images you can see the exposed framing in the walls as well as the ceiling.

My concern is that since my home was built in 1959 that the wall may be load bearing. Does this appear to be the case based on the images?

Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forums.

I see what looks like an outside door. That tells me there may have been an addition added on there. You diagram with the two red lines doesn't look like it matches the pictures.

 

The walls to the left and right sides of that open door look load bearing to me. I'm assuming that the picture shows strapping (running perpendicular to the direction of the joists, and nailed to each joist) on the bottom of the joists. Therefore the joists must run left to right in your pictures, so neither of those walls should be removed, since the ceiling joists bear on them. Correct me if I'm wrong... can't really see what we need to see in your pictures with all that insulation hanging in the way.

Since we can't get in your attic and look it's hard to tell you any more than that.

 

I didn't notice the hole in the wall in the upper right hand corner.

 

Is that a steel column, or a cast iron vent stack?

 

Looks like a vent stack.

The pictures are so big they have to be moved in the browser to be completely seen. It looks like there are red arrows pointing to the wall on the left. Not the wall where the door is.

That wall where the red arrows are doesn't look like load bearing.

 

Yeah i wondered... I disagree on the load bearing part... I'm imagining the joists rest on the wall with the red arrows and the one opposite it. Better pics that show the joists would help. Without knowing the span of the joists I hesitate to say it's not load bearing...

Can't make heads or tails of that floor plan drawing.

 

The floor plan matches the pictures. I circled where the kitchen door leads to the garage. I also circled the wall that needs shortened.

I would guess this wall is bearing, I would think the ceiling joists are running perpendicular to the wall.

It might not be though.
I filled a circle next to the area you want to remove. I don't see a header there.
The opening looks original to the house and is too wide to be built without a header.

 

Brian, so you are talking about the opening that is the left wall in the pictures? The one with the arrows? I wondered about that too... wondering if maybe the joists change direction there or something.

 

I don't know. The black line in picture is the filled circle area.
Just wondering why no header there?

 

Based on this picture that wall does appear to be load bearing. Some interesting construction.




Brian.... in your picture.... it almost looks like ceiling is pitched there where the black line is.

 

Interesting Pete about the pitch, I didn't notice that. A good job also of showing the ceiling joists.

I would say shorten the wall by 3' and install a header above the area in question, like an exterior patio door opening. The only thing you're losing is a little headroom.
I really doubt if the header needs to be treated like a beam and have footings below the end posts.

I would build temporary walls on both sides before installing the header just to be safe.