Is it load bearing?

[Stephan & Christina]

The question had to do with an addition that was put on a house about 40 years ago. The addition is about 37' x 20', single level, flat roof. I know absolutely NOTHING about flat roofs. I do know that we get a lot of snow, and obviously this roof has been supporting the weight. What is normally used instead of trusses?

I'm just trying to plan things out, ahead of the contractor coming in, to see what can be done with this wall.

This wall spans the shorter side of the addition.

Thanks!

[pushkins]

Instead of trusses the roof is built with rafters, size of the rafters would depend on a few factors including distance spanned.

The addition is 37' if the rafters are running with this length then there must be a load support (bearers) along the way. Obviously you cannot buy 37' long 2x8 or 10" so there would be a knee wall built mid span (maybe two) for the rafters to stop and start on. this would make the side walls or at least a part of them load bearing as well as the two walls at either end.

Almost all walls, load bearing or not "can" be removed with the use of correctly sized LVL's or Flitch plates etc... A good contractor should be able to advise you on sizing or have the ability to get the beams sized via their LVL companies engineer.

Make sure your contractor actually looks up inside the roof section of the addition (if possible) a 40 year old addition might have a bundle of surprises.
If your really serious about the work you could cut an inspection hole in the ceiling yourself and have a look up there.

[Stephan & Christina]

I'm assuming that the joists would span across the shorter side of the addition (20'), and since the wall that I'm looking at modifying is also going in the same direction, I'm also assuming that it's not load-bearing.

There's no wall, except for outer walls, that goes across the "long" side (37') of the addition, so I have to assume, again, that the roof was designed to be self-supporting.

A lot of assumptions right now, I know, but as your rightly said, I'll have to drop part of the ceiling to ensure that all these assumptions are correct.

Still at the planning stage right now, and no plan on taking a Sawzall to any of the interior walls just yet.

Thanks for the help!

[HayZee518]

ceiling joists usually span across a shorter distance on a structure. floor trusses can span across 40 feet with no center support. all the weight is distributed on the lower cord and the ends.