Load bearing walls - which ones?

[Mutts]

Just bought a 1950's stone bungalow. It's about 12 metres square. Hubby went into the loft to look at the joists, but there's so much insulation around it's hard to see. He said the ceiling joists appear to radiate out from a central point.

There are no central internal walls. There's a central hall with walls on either side. None of the internal walls appear to be particularly thick.

How do I tell which are load bearing walls and which aren't?

I'd like to redesign the interior, but must consider cost, so I need to take into account any load bearing walls in my design.

 

Linda

[Caterham7]

I'm afraid there is no real alternative to getting into the loft and checking the direction of the span of the ceiling joists,you will usually be able to see the supporting walls where they penetrate the ceiling(usually plasterboard).

Accurately measure these wall locations and check against the ground floor.The loadbearing walls are not necessarily that thick,100mm is more than sufficient.

Typical ceiling joists will span 3-6 metres,depending on their size and spacing.

Regards Tony

[Richard Hyde]

As a general 'rule of thumb' joists will run across the shortest span - therefore using a smaller timber cross section

trickie

[Mutts]

Thanks for the replies. Guess I'll climb into the loft on our next trip and take a good look.

Thanks again

Linda