I have an interior wall between two bedrooms (which are going to become one) on the upper floor. It's a 70s house with cast floors both in the foundation slab and the 1st floor. Above these rooms is the attic and the ceiling is a porous gypsum-like material. I understand that the slanted beam is load-bearing - it goes up through the ceiling and all the way through the attic. I don't plan to touch that. There are similar beams on both sides of both rooms. The question is if I can remove all the other wooden studs - can they have any load-bearing function?
absolutely, it looks like you have a truss, top chord, and a collar beam.
But it's hard to tell without more information.
Is this a dormer on the house and the adjacent room also has a dormer? Or is it a slanted roof in the adjacent room?
You can probably remove the studs under the truss since it should be self-supporting; however, you must ensure that they haven't done something with the truss so that those studs are taking load.
The easiest way to see if a stud is taking load is to saw into it; if the saw gets stuck, it's taking load. Then stop and apply a splice.
It shouldn't be taking load since it's under a truss, but it's worth checking before removing everything, start small and investigate.
But it's hard to tell without more information.
Is this a dormer on the house and the adjacent room also has a dormer? Or is it a slanted roof in the adjacent room?
You can probably remove the studs under the truss since it should be self-supporting; however, you must ensure that they haven't done something with the truss so that those studs are taking load.
The easiest way to see if a stud is taking load is to saw into it; if the saw gets stuck, it's taking load. Then stop and apply a splice.
It shouldn't be taking load since it's under a truss, but it's worth checking before removing everything, start small and investigate.
Last edited:
What does it look like on the floor below, is there a wall there too?
Is the picture taken in a dormer?
J justusandersson said:
Thank you so much for the comments and answers!B bossespecial said:
on the floor below there isn't really a wall in the same place... but there is a load-bearing wall in light concrete that runs through the house
The photo is taken in a dormer where half belongs to each original room. It's a bit dark outside now but attaching a picture...
The diagonal beam is part of the truss's upper leg and you cannot remove it without further ado. The studs above the diagonal form an exterior wall. This time of year, it is probably less suitable to remove them. The studs below the diagonal are only for the wall itself. Possibly, one of them is a replacement for a removed support leg, but that cannot be seen in the picture.
It's a dormer shared by two rooms. In each room, there's a built-in sloped wall towards the outer walls. I added more pictures in the comment beforepjapen said:
absolutely, it looks like you have a truss, top tie, and a collar beam. But hard to see without more information. Is this a dormer on the house and the room next to it also has a dormer? Or is there a sloped ceiling in the room next to it?[bild]
You can certainly remove the studs under the truss since it should be self-supporting, but you must check to see if they've done anything with the truss so that the studs standing underneath are taking load. The simplest way to see if a stud is taking load is to saw into it; if the saw gets stuck, it's taking load. Then you stop and put on a splice.
It shouldn't be taking load since it's under a truss, but it's worth checking before you tear everything down, start small and investigate.
// MariaNow I see that the wall separates two rooms, each with a window in the same dormer. If you want to remove the diagonal beam (which is part of the truss's rafter), it must be replaced with a beam that spans between the surrounding trusses, a somewhat more extensive operation. And without removing the diagonal, there's hardly any point in removing the wall.