Bearing or non bearing wall???

[jspies22]

Hello fellow GJ's! I love this site and it has inspired me to do great things with my garage. Thanks for all the great ideas! I am in the process of building my own garage cabinets and plan on putting together a build thread in the up coming weeks. But first I most pose a question about my potential winter project....

Ok, so not totally garage related but this part of the house is 60% over the garage and some of the work will take place in the garage shop. So hopefully you guys will have an answer.

I would like to turn bedroom #2 into a loft/den for my wife. Our house is wide open on the main floor with kitchen to family/living room wide open, no privacy. We are looking to make a more intimate area upstairs by removing the hallway wall of bedroom #2 and the closet of bedroom #2 and creating a den.

I am wondering if this wall is load bearing or not and how I would go about finding out without ripping out Sheetrock. Attached is the original drawing for the upstairs. Removing this wall would essentially give us a 14x15' or so area for a den.

In the process I plan on opening up the floor to gain access to garage wiring and possibly put in come can lighting for the garage or run more wire to junction boxes in order to add fixtures.

Thank you in advance for your critique and suggestions.

It should be noted that the wife and I have a daughter and don't plan on any more little ones and the basement has a finished bed and bath.

 

[jspies22]

A view of the front of the house.

 

[readhead]

How old is the house? Is the roof framed with truss's? I'm puzzeled why you would tear up the floor to put can lights in the garage. A little drywall repair would be a lot easier.

 

[Rosco]

Hard to tell by the plans. I would imagine that it is load bearing. Many things to consider......

What is inside the wall (plumbing, wiring, gas lines etc)

Will you be able to finish the ceiling/floor transition to your liking

Future re-sell

Could you get by with just a large entry into the room? That way you could install a header for support, leave the closet (always need a closet), and close it back up if needed

I always assume a wall is load bearing unless I built it.

 

[readhead]

Those are CAD drawings so the house is probably not very old. 25-35 years max. Probably framed with trusses in which case the wall is not load bearing. There is always the possibility that it was stick framed in which case it probably is. As far as what is in the wall, it can all be moved unless you don't want to spend the money.

 

[jspies22]

House was build in 2003. Nothing should be in that wall besides a single outlet, which would be rerouted or capped with an accessible junction box. Bathroom across the hall should have all the plumbing through it and the venting through the top. Exterior walls are 2x6. Foundation is cinder block. House is in Minnesota so all footings are deep for frost. I'm pretty sure trusses, I have access through master closet and can see front and back of the house walls through the pre framed trusses.

Would rip up the floor because I finished the garage with knockdown walls and ceiling before I ever thought about the den idea. Adding more lighting is only an idea, I have 4 double bulb t8 fixtures plus a ceiling fan with 4 60 watt incandescents. At the time I only needed to pay $50 for the mud because the wife's uncle who has the equipment owed a favor.

BTW, Love the name rosco, my partner has the same name only spelled Rosko....

 

[Thumper68]

If you have attic access get up there and look. My guess is that you have trusses and it is not load bearing.

 

[Boomer343]

Non bearing in my opinion. Any HVAC in the wall like a return air duct? Besides the electrical outlet you may have switch wiring.

I did something similar for a friend a few years ago but to save patching the ceiling I carefully cut the drywall below the top two plates then cut the wall stud nails. Patched with drywall and painted wall color.

Instead of removing the closet we did built in wall units.

Did they use spray foam insulation in the garage ceiling? There should be a vapor barrier under the floor so you'll need to fix that after cutting out the floor.

Be sure to get a multi tool to cut drywall nice and clean.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

How old is the house? Is the roof framed with truss's? I'm puzzeled why you would tear up the floor to put can lights in the garage. A little drywall repair would be a lot easier.

If you have attic access get up there and look. My guess is that you have trusses and it is not load bearing.

Yep as far as load bearing it should be easy to tell if you get in the attic and look.
Can lights wouldn't be my first choice for a garage where I want to have as much light as possible over the whole area. I wouldn't tear up a floor to add it, you should be able to add lighting and fish wires with little or no need to repair any drywall. Repairing drywall is a lot easier than tearing up and repairing a floor anyway.

 

[jspies22]

First off I'd like to say your help, support and knowledge is amazing. And thank you for that. I've been a member for about 4 years now and am on the site weekly if not daily.

No returns in the walls and single switch on the wall to be demo'd. That will be relocated to the bedroom 3 wall.

Can lights were only an idea. I have goof lighting now but could always be better.