Flat Roof Load Bearing Wall

Load bearing walls support the weight of a floor or roof structure above and are so named because they bear a load.

Flat roof load bearing wall.

The construction of the flat roof is similar to that of the timber upper floor. These walls transfer the vertical load of the house straight to the foundation or some other element that undergirds it. Due to the triangular shape of all but flat roofs the rafters or joists will run perpendicular to the roof ridge as well as to load bearing walls. The first kind of wall which carries the weight of the structure and supports the roof is known as a load bearing wall.

On the other two sides the roof terminates in a flat triangular gable. Use this clue to narrow down possible load. Roof and wall sheathing gravity and wind loads floor diaphragms and shear walls. The standard guide in the u s the asce 7 05 lists weights and stresses for all building materials expressed in pounds per square foot.

If a wall is located on the ground floor go down to the basement to observe the ceiling beams. Load bearing walls cross roof beams in a perpendicular direction. Ways to identify a load bearing. The roof trusses are too long to span the whole house so the load bearing wall runs down the center of the house to support the trusses at the perpendicular intersection in the middle.

Using this technique you ll get a better idea of the location of the load bearing walls in your house. By contrast a non load bearing wall sometimes called a partition wall is responsible only for holding up itself. Load bearing or primary structure usually constructed in timber in a residential construction. Joists are placed on edge spaced at 400 600mm centres supported by external and internal load bearing walls.

Calculating the load on a flat roof is a challenging task for the layperson that involves knowledge of building materials their weights and local building codes. Foundation wall gravity and soil lateral loads headers girders joists interior load bearing walls and columns footings gravity loads exterior load bearing walls and columns gravity and transverse lateral load 3 roof rafters trusses and beams. In this roof design the exterior walls on which the roof s sloping rafters rest are load bearing walls.