Hello I believe this to be a partition wall. I was wondering what you all think.
House is a raised ranch with a vaulted ceiling in the living room. The wall is not supported in the basement by column or beam. and is 36-40″ away from main floor beam. the wall runs only 2/3 the length of the room currently. See photos and Drawings.
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Even though the wall isn’t over a beam in the basement it’s still carrying a load. It’s just transferring it to the floor joists and the floor joists bear on the beam. Part of the ceiling has no wall, but a 2x6 for a 16’ span is undersized. If you want to remove the wall I’d recommend installing a hanging beam in the attic. Basically it would run like the 2x4 strongback that is perpendicular to the ceiling joists, but it has to be bigger. If there is a gable vent try to size a beam that can fit through it.
Here’s a link to an excellent Mike Guertin article about it.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/framing/remove-one-wall-and-join-two-rooms
Hello, thanks for the reply. It’s confusing because there’s an addition. Built next to this room that has the same construction and is 25 x 28 with no support in the middle and vaulted ceiling. Do the 16 foot joists, bear load or keep the roof from spreading? And do you think that the code in the 80s allowed this and now it needs to be beefed up for current code?
Thanks again for your insight
The 16 foot joists do both. They are the bottom part of the triangle that is the gable roof and keep it from spreading. It bears the load of the ceiling drywall. I didn’t look at a span table but my quick search of the internet says a 2x6 max ceiling span is 13’ 9”. So 16’ is not far off. It is just over spanned and maybe is fine because it’s old growth lumber. However it is right at the limit where it could sag a bit in the middle. Any evidence of that if you stretch a string from wall to wall? It’s probably just fine as is if no sagging seen. A easy fix would be to sister a some lumber to the strongback 2x4 to stiffen and reduce sagging if you think that’s necessary maybe with some hurricane ties tied into the ceiling rafters- which is not their indended use but will make it stronger than it is.
As for code it’s already built so it’s grandfathered in. If you want to improve it to current code, follow the steps in Mike Guertins article and while you’re at it seal the light fixture and add insulation.
Good luck