I have a wall that I’m confident it is not load bearing, but I thought to put it out there to see if someone thinks I’m incorrect. Here is what I know and can see:
The wall length is little less than six feet. It is sandwiched into an existing laundry room dividing it in half. The wall runs perpendicular to the joists above.
Looking in the attic above this tiny wall I see the joists are not double stacking above. The wall is just over four feet from the exterior wall of the home which is load bearing. With that little amount of space the builder didn’t need to double stack the joists in this area.
3. So since most walls perpendicular to joists are load bearing I go to the next test: cutting out the top portion of the wall to see the top plate. I see a single plate and not a double top plate.
4. It does have framing of a closet 90 degrees to it, but that wall is parallel to the joist so going to assume it’s not load bearing.
So I’m confident this wall is not load bearing because of the following:
- Top plate is a single and not a double
- Wall looks to be simple framing for a door and a closet.
- Wall is very close to the exterior load bearing wall and wouldn’t expect to handle any weight
- While the joists above are perpendicular, the joists above are not double stacked on top of this wall.
Am I missing anything? Is there any additional checks that I can do to determine if this is load bearing?
