Please Help. Is this a load bearing wall? (wall opened up)

Hello everyone. I am in the preliminary stages of remodeling my kitchen. I am planning on removing the archway/wall separating my current kitchen from a small breakfast nook to open up the space. I was hoping you guys could give me an idea of what you think about this wall being load bearing. I am 90% certain it is only cosmetic as my next door neighbors (with the same 40's built cape cod) removed the same wall in their kitchen. This wall is on ground floor and the wall does not continue through to the second floor or through the second floor to the attic. Above it is a large closet where the closet wall does not line up with this one and below it does not continue into the basement. This wall runs parallel with the floor joists in the basement. I'm not sure if that is any indication like roof trusses sometimes are.

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

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[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

 

The fact that it has a header would give one the impression that it's load bearing. Also the window in your exterior wall being nearby would make me wonder if the ceiling joists need the support of that wall. Which way do they run? Perpendicular to this wall, or parallel to this wall?

Just because the neighbor removed a similar wall doesn't mean they were right in doing so, even if the houses are exactly the same.

 

My house is a cape so it has two roofs perpendicular to each other.

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

The wall is under the right roof and the wall runs parallel with the trusses I can see when I look in the attic. Obviously that means that the wall runs perpendicular to the other roof but the roof thats over it it runs parallel to.

Thanks for your input.

 

I'm asking about the ceiling joists... which are also the floor joists on the 2nd story. Exterior pictures don't tell the whole story. It's possible the ceiling joists run one direction on one side of the wall and the opposite direction on the other side of the wall. What you see in the attic doesn't tell you much of anything about what's going on between 1st story and 2nd story.

 

So i opened up the ceiling on the other side of the archway and took some pictures. The floor joists definitely run parallel to the archway.

Picture of the holes. Where I left the plaster is a joist and the other end of the long hole is another joist. These holes are on the other side of the archway from where i took the original pictures so closer to the window from the first pics.

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

Then I took some pictures from the small hole inside the ceiling/2nd floor (closest to the archway):

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

I measured the joists and they seem to be 15.5 in on center which would mean that the left joist would fall within the archway which i believe is what you can see on the left side of that last picture.

Last picture is looking towards the short side wall and got this:

[Imgur](imgur: the simple image sharer)

Pushed on the metal and it sounds like sheet metal most likely a heating duct.

Thanks again for your input.

 

Since you can clearly see what's up there and we might have a hard time picturing it, I'll say this:

If the ceiling joists on BOTH sides of the wall are parallel to the wall, then it is not a load bearing wall. If any perpendicular ceiling joists on even one side of the wall sit on top of the wall, then it is a load bearing wall, at least for part of the ceiling framing. If the joist on top of the wall is not continuous, it is a load bearing wall, to support that particular joist. There could also be some load transfer to that particular joist that you/we are unaware of.

But it's looking better that the wall is NOT load bearing based on what you've found so far.

 

So I opened the ceiling and wall up a little more and took some more pictures. (IMGUR ALBUM AT BOTTOM OF POST) Good news is the floor joists are parallel to the archway on both sides. There is one joist directly on top of the archway. If this wall is doing any supporting it could only really be supporting this single joist right. I guess what is perplexing me is that fact that the joist is resting on top of the top plate of the wall and there doesn't actually appear to be any pressure on the jack/header part of the wall. I'm going to include as many photos as possible. Hopefully they are clear enough. I'm thinking i would just need to put blocks on each side of the joist (on either side of it on the wall plate) to make sure it doesn't go anywhere but it doesn't look lie the wall or jacks are doing much supporting if any. Please let me know what you think. The joist itself is about 7.5in from top plate to 2nd floor. Also there is a horizontal 2x4 in my wall with two boards perpendicular to it between it and the top plate that looks like they are doing some supporting of the top plate. Underneath that horizontal 2x4 is a gap then just looks like a stud that was cut short so I think that is just a jerry rigged stud and continuation of that stud above. Also after looking into the wall the sheet metal goes the whole way down that wall so I believe its a fire barrier between our interior and our garage (which is on the other side of that wall) rather than a duct. Sorry for the book. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

IMGUR ALBUM:
http://imgur.com/a/pSnwv

 

Anybody have any more input?

 

Seems like you have your answer.

 

Well its done. Now its time to drywall...