Guidelines on Spacing a Load Bearing Wall

Guidelines for spacing a load bearing wall can be found among the building codes for your community. These codes will let you know what the requirements are for load bearing walls, their placement, construction and other requirements needed for you to build them. For most individual do-it-yourselfers, building a load bearing wall is a task that may come about only during a renovation of your home or the addition of space. Very rarely will you be involved in the building of a load bearing wall during the initial construction process unless you are the one who is building the home.

Understanding these guidelines can be important for a homeowner who is looking to engage in a renovation and building project. Building, spacing and construction of a load bearing wall are explained in the various codes and guidelines set forth by the industry and community you live in.

What a Load Bearing Wall Does

A load bearing wall is a wall that bears the brunt of the weight from an upper level of the home. This allows the home to maintain an equal distribution of weight and prevents the upper level from sinking in to the lower section of the home. A load bearing wall for the most part is a basic construction task that every carpenter or home builder knows how to build. This type of project is not very difficult for a do-it-yourselfer to do as long as hey understand the basic principles behind the construction a wall.

A load bearing wall is constructed using 2x4-inch boards and framed with 2 boards serving as a top plate and a single board serving as the bottom plate. The boards are joined using 2x4-inch vertical boards that are attached at the top and the bottom with nails.

Checking with Local Building Codes

Before you engage in the process of constructing and you need to become familiar with the building codes for your community. These codes will let you know what is acceptable and unacceptable with respect to the construction of a load bearing wall. A copy of the building code should be acquired before you begin the process of building the load bearing wall. The code can be easily obtained from the building inspectors office.

The code will express the weights and materials that are acceptable for your load bearing wall. The code will describe the standards for the community related to load bearing walls

Additional Guidelines for Load Bearing Walls

Additional guidelines for the construction of load bearing walls can be found in the standard set by the home building and construction industry. This includes such organizations as the National Homebuilders Association and others that have an interest in promoting safe and efficient methods for building load bearing walls. These standards are built off the building codes found in each community.

The standards for load bearing walls set forth the guidelines used in this type of construction project.