Best to have your contractor take a look.

Best to get a structural engineer involved

It's rare that a structural engineer needs to get involved, especially at this early stage. Any competent pro, and a homeowner with some knowledge can answer this question.

A competent framer can tell you in 5 minutes. Post a picture of your attic please.

He’s looking to remove most of the wall. At some point an engineer is going to need to be involved. While a contractor can tell you if it’s load bearing they may not be able to tell you how to solve it and having an expert work with you from the start isn’t bad.

I was able to get a copy of my home’s blueprints through the local building department. It shows load bearing walls, etc.

Where I live if you are doing a permitted renovation and removing walls then yes you absolutely need an engineer involved

If you have figured out how to get the location crystal ball to work, please share!

I’m not sure why anyone would want to remove something structural without an engineer signing off and ensure their safety and that of their family. Even if it wasn’t a requirement in your area for permitting it’s wild that recommendation would exclude a structural engineer

I didn’t say the wall was load bearing actually. I said that having an engineer on board will help you solve any problems if it is. Having an engineer on board from the start would allow you to see all the potential options.

Yeah I happily take that referral from my GP and make sure I’m not going to have a heart attack. Just like I don’t want my second floor to fall in on me and when I’m making big renovation plans I want to know what all the options are before I proceed.

Whn in doubt get an engineer IMO. Threy can be worth evry penny you spend . We had a neighbor who had his contractor tell him a wall was safe to remove and one Sunday morning the whole main floor collasped , Thank God the house was not yet ready to live in a bit drastic but also a good leeson learned

No not all 'competent contractors' can tell before a wall is opened up. We were given advise about a wall we hoped to remove. The rafters said no not a load bearing wall. Once the wall was removed a footing was discovered. Ya don't put a footing in a basement with a poured floor for no reason. DH put the wall back. We were only moving the wall a couple of feet and the new walls framing was already in place so no fear of damage. Still the footing won. When working with a 50 yr old home there's no way to guess what what or why until you get into is what we learned.

If there was no load on that wall, what was the source of the load on the basement footing?

“No not all 'competent contractors' can tell before a wall is opened up. We were given advise about a wall we hoped to remove. The rafters said no not a load bearing wall. Once the wall was removed a footing was discovered. Ya don't put a footing in a basement with a poured floor for no reason.”

First, sometimes walls and ceilings have to be opened up to get the information needed. It doesn’t matter if you have an engineer or a contractor. If they are guessing at hidden construction, they can be wrong. I have engaged an engineer twice for my current home and both times they required I open up the wall and ceiling.

Next, sometimes load bearing walls are not structural, nor does a footer under a wall necessarily make the wall above it load bearing.

Sometimes walls are designed to carry non-structural loads (e.g. large fishtanks or tubs). And sometimes a load bearing wall or beam is constructed in a crawl space or basement that only carries the load of the floor joists. That used to happen quite often because the lumber for longer spans cost more than footers and beams.

In this case we know this is a standard story and a half (two up, two down) Cape Cod. They built these by the bucket load. You can likely see the joists in the attic and they are almost certainly running parallel to that wall. That means that wall is exceedingly unlikely to be load bearing.