Load Bearing Wall

[Hrm995]

How can you tell if a wall is load bearing?

 

[FatDog]

Instead of going into detail explaining I suggest you simply do a Google search or look on You Tube.

 

[DoyleAlley]

One clue is to look at the relationship of the ceiling joists to the wall. If the ceiling joists are running parallel to the wall, then it is probably not load bearing (assuming there is not a carrier beam running the same direction sitting on top of the wall. I've got that situation in my house where the joists run parallel to a particular wall but there is a vaulted ceiling carrier beam sitting on the wall). If the ceiling joists are running perpendicular to the wall, then it may or may not be load bearing and you have to use other clues (see FatDog's YouTube recommendation).