load bearing?

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

The home we are purchasing has an interesting layout in the master bath/bedroom.

You walk in the MBR door, which is at the end of the hallway. To your right, the master bedroom, to your left, there is an alcove between the on-suite bathroom (where a toilet/shower/bath sits) and the walk-in closet on the other side. However, the actual *room* the bathroom is in only has the toilet and shower/tub. The his and her sinks are just out in the open at the back of the alcove. Which is odd and seems like a hotel to us.

We want to close this in and put an actual door to it and make it part of a larger bathroom. Sounds easy enough.

However, if we do this, the door into the walk-in closet will now be INSIDE the bathroom. So we want to close that door off, drywall it, and install a new door on the front wall that faces the master bedroom. Our concern is that it might be load-bearing, and installing the door would create an issue. It's a two-story colonial, built in 1978, and this is a second-floor room. The wall we'd be putting the door in is in a straight line from the hallway wall that other bedrooms doors are installed into, and there's an alcove there now, so it *seems* unlikely that it's load bearing, but how can I tell?

Secondly, down the road we may "open up" the new, larger bathroom and take down the door and/or walls between the sink area and the toilet/shower, and again would have concerns about load-bearing walls, but that's not immediate.

Featured Answer

Vith

10 years ago

last modified: 10 years ago

If you know how to do a header....

But you don't know how to tell if its load bearing in the first place so it sounds like you have some learning to do before you jump into it.

How can you tell? Open the ceiling drywall and look at the structure. If you are unsure, get someone who knows what they are looking at to have a look at it. No one will be able to tell you with certainty unless you open up the drywall. Even if it "seems unlikely" this isn't something you just assume and start messing with.

If load bearing you need to assemble temporary support walls on each side of where your removing the wall. You also need to consider the span the floor joists run before being supported and the floor joist width. This is something an engineer would be consulted for. There may be more to do considering what you find at the structure. If there are floor joists that are separate and meet at the top of the wall then you will need a support beam there where the wall was. Same is true if the floor joist span is too long or the floor joists are not wide enough to span very far.

Either way, if doing DIY, you will need to pull permits and have inspections done. And if its load bearing, consult an engineer.

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Comments (14)

User
10 years ago
This is far too complicated to describe in words so you should post a drawing.

The easiest way to tell if a wall is load bearing is to go into the attic and look to see if any attic floor joists rest on it.
hairmetal4ever
Original Author
10 years ago
Can you see this pic?
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PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
10 years ago
Installing a door into a load bearing wall is not usually a big deal. Hire an experienced contractor and don't worry about it. No engineer needed.
klem1
10 years ago
What Joseph ^^^^ said + 1
Vertise
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Except you don't know how experienced your contractor is until the job is done and it is too late. Best to do your homework first.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
10 years ago
"Except you don't know how experienced your contractor is until the job is done and it is too late."

If you're lazy this is true. Check him out thoroughly and there will be no surprises.
hairmetal4ever
Original Author
10 years ago
I was hoping to do this DIY - because - eventually, when we can afford it, we want to redo the entire master bath, and then we will hire a contractor, of course. However, my wife can't stand the "open" sinks in the alcove for the time being.

I was trying to not have to pay a contractor twice for the same area of the house. I assume the markup on a small job plus the large job will cost me more total than if I did have the contractor do the entire job at once. However, the funds just aren't there to do the whole thing now.
hairmetal4ever
Original Author
10 years ago
Good info - thanks to all.

Convincing my wife to deal with the weird alcove until we can afford the full rehab by a contractor is probably harder than this project, but that might be the route I attempt to take for now.
Vertise
10 years ago
@JC "If you're lazy this is true. Check him out thoroughly and there will be no surprises."

That is so absolutely not true. It plays out here on GW all the time.

Looks like we're back to the usual - if the contractor is not educated enough or cuts corners, it's the customer who is lazy and cheap, not the contractor.
User
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
As I mentioned earlier, if the wall is load bearing, the load (from attic joists or roof supports) should be visible from the attic. That's all a contractor, architect or engineer would do so just do it instead of asking others to guess.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
10 years ago
"@JC "If you're lazy this is true. Check him out thoroughly and there will be no surprises."

That is so absolutely not true. It plays out here on GW all the time.

Looks like we're back to the usual - if the contractor is not educated enough or cuts corners, it's the customer who is lazy and cheap, not the contractor."

My sincere apologies. I forgot I was on Houzz, where it's always the contractor's fault. Sorry.
PRO
Cabot & Rowe
10 years ago
Do a google image search for "door framing" You'll come across things likethis I'd frame for the door the same if it was load bearing or not. DO check for pipes and wires in the wall first.
weedyacres
10 years ago
It's not a big deal to put a door in a load-bearing wall. Support the ceiling on either side while you're cutting it out and installing the header, then remove the temporary supports.