# Open Web Floor Truss, Load Bearing Wall Question



## rlc2052 (Mar 5, 2010)

My townhouse was built with Top Chord Bearing Open Web Floor Trusses.  They are 15' long X 11.5 deep.  They are spaced out 22" from one another. I want to take out a 2' wall to open my kitchen.  The wall is under one of the trusses running parallel with it.  The truss does not have any vertical braces in it to make me think it was designed to be load bearing wall.  Drawing attached.

My kitchen is on the second floor.  The same type of trusses support it.  There are no walls below it.  Meaning the 1st floor is an open floor plan and there are no walls or support under the wall in question.  Above the wall in question on the 3rd floor is a bedroom.

I attached pics of trusses and drew out where the wall runs below it.  There is a strong back running down, so I had to take 2 pics.

Does this look like it could be a load supporting wall to anyone?

Thanks,
Robert


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## Wuzzat? (Mar 10, 2010)

Case 1, non-load bearing wall at midspan.  For L/360 and a 15' span you'd expect that the wall would be 1/2" shorter than the end walls that support the trusses.

Case 2, load bearing wall at midspan. For L/360 and a 15' span you'd expect that the wall would be the same height as the end walls that support the trusses.  In each of the ~7.5' remaining spans the ceiling would deflect about ~1/4", which can be detected by running a taut line along the ceiling directly under the truss.


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