Load bearing wall

[KCAP]

I am hoping for some insight. I have a 23 foot interior width span with a possible load bearing hallway wall(almost dead center). Home was built in the 60s and has common trusses (with 2 x 4 construction). I have had numerous GC's and they are almost split down the middle over whether it's load bearing or not. This, I believe, is due to some of the trusses appearing like they are partially sitting on the wall. I consulted a structural engineer who came by and spent about 5 minutes in the attic. I mentioned that the truss span table with my roof pitch showed 39 feet. He said he never heard of a truss span table, took no measurements that I could see, and didn't write anything down. Should I be concerned that he didn't know about span tables or does he just plug the truss specs and inside wall width into a program? Please advise, and thanks in advance.

 

[phamENG]

Today, truss span tables are generally used only in preliminary design comparing depth of truss to span. Then the manufacturers take over detailed design for specific cases. The ranch and bungalow style houses of the 50s to 70s aren't really built anymore, and so the simple, common trusses are also rarely used. So the span tables are just to make sure the structural engineer (if there's one involved at all) give the truss manufacturer an arrangement that will work. And it's just as easy to memorize depth to span ratios, so some engineers don't use the span tables at all.

For evaluation of your condition, it's hard to say. I've looked at some attics where I could tell within 15 seconds if the wall was load bearing or not. There are certain qualitative things to look for. If those aren't there or they aren't as I think they should be, I'll dig deeper and do an analysis of the truss. But again, it depends.

 

[le99]

You have left out too much information for others to come to sense - the nature of the truss (location, floor or roof, if roof, what type of roof (flat, pitched), also what region is the house located and what is the truss made of (metal, wood)?

In general, you can trust the engineer, if he/she is licensed and registered with the state as a PE or SE.

 

[jayrod12]

There have been many times where I didn't even need to go fully into the attic to tell, just stick my head in the attic access. Some things are that obvious.

Othertimes, it's not so obvious. I have an insurance inspection currently on my desk where they somehow got a 27 foot 4 ply 2x12 beam that shouldn't be supporting the roof framing, but appears to be. However if it were actually supporting the roof framing would fail so miserably it should have been on the ground after the first winter. So after a bunch of investigation, it appears the beam is actually hung from the roof rafters. And has worked relatively adequately for almost 50 years.