Can a Load Bearing Wall Be Replaced Without Columns?

Load Bearing Walls

• Interior walls within a home or building vary in their purpose and design. Some walls simply act as partitions between rooms. Load bearing walls not only separate rooms, but provide essential structural support for overhead floors and ceilings. Depending on a home’s layout, a load bearing wall may run perpendicular to overhead floor joists or simply have a column or two contained inside the wall itself. Because of the structural roles they play, replacing a load bearing wall means installing a structure that’s as strong or stronger than the original wall.

Weight Loading

• The use of columns inside load bearing wall provides a method for distributing or spreading out overhead weight across the length of the wall. In effect, load bearing walls transfer weight from one area of a home’s structure to another. Columns or posts help to load weight amounts more evenly. In many cases, a load bearing wall sits on top of columns or posts that rest on a home’s foundation. These conditions enable supportive walls to transfer overhead weight to foundational supports. So, replacing a load bearing wall without column supports entails using another material or structure with the same weight loading capabilities as the original wall.

Steel Beams

• As far as construction materials go, the strength and durability found in steel far exceeds that of wood. Load bearing walls made up of wood require column supports for added strength to help maintain their structure. Because of the strength of the material, steel beams can replace load bearing walls without the added supports that columns provide. Granted, the ends of a steel beam still require column supports to suspend the beam in place and transfer weight to underlying foundation structures; however, as far as the length or interior portions of the beam is concerned, no column supports are needed. And while a steel beam makes for a sturdy replacement for a load bearing wall, it's necessary to have a structural engineer or experienced carpenter handle the actual calculations involving weight load transfers.

Wall Openings

• As load bearing walls already have a structural framework in place, creating a wall opening inside the wall does not require the added support of columns. Wall openings can come in any size or shape provided the needed replacement supports can handle the load. Instead of column supports, a header beam provides the load bearing support for the wall opening. A header beam runs across the top of an opening with stud supports on both ends of the beam. In effect, only some of the overhead weight will transfer onto the beam and studs since a portion of the original wall remains in place. And while this makes for a simpler approach, weight load transfer calculations should still be handled by experienced carpenters or structural engineers.