They look the same from the room
Opening a kitchen into a living space is the most common remodel we are asked about, and the whole price of it turns on one question: is that wall holding anything up. From inside the room there is nothing to tell you. Both walls are drywall over studs at the same spacing, painted the same colour, with the same skirting.
A partition can come out in an afternoon. A bearing wall comes out with a header, posts, a load path down to something that can carry it, and a permit.
Under a truss roof the answer is usually findable
Most valley houses built from the 1980s onwards have engineered roof trusses, and a truss is designed to span from exterior wall to exterior wall. Where that is true the interior walls are frequently carrying nothing but themselves, which is good news for anyone wanting an open plan.
Frequently is not always. Girder trusses, mid-span bearing points and any house that has been added to break the rule, and a look in the roof space at which way the framing runs and what is sitting on what is worth more than any assumption made from below.
What it costs when it is bearing
The wall is replaced by a beam, and the beam has to be sized by an engineer for the span and the load. That beam lands on posts, and the posts put a point load into the floor — which on slab-on-grade means knowing what is under the bearing point, and occasionally cutting the slab and pouring a pad to take it.
None of that is exotic and none of it is cheap, and all of it is easier to price before demolition than during it. The jurisdiction will want to see the engineering, which is a good outcome rather than an obstacle: a beam somebody sized by eye is the sort of thing that is discovered years later by a buyer's inspector.
Why guessing is the expensive option
A wall taken out that should not have been does not fall over. It sags — a door that stops closing, a crack that opens across a ceiling, a line in the drywall that comes back every time it is filled. The repair at that point is the original job plus the damage plus the reason it happened.
An engineer's letter is a small number against that, and it is the number that turns a guess into a specification.
Before anyone quotes to open up a kitchen, establish whether the wall is bearing. If nobody has been in the roof space, nobody knows.
Questions we get asked
How do I know if a wall is load bearing?
Look in the roof space at which way the framing runs and what is sitting on what. Most valley houses built from the 1980s onwards have engineered trusses spanning exterior wall to exterior wall, which leaves many interior walls carrying nothing but themselves — but girder trusses, mid-span bearing points and later additions all break that rule.
How much does it cost to remove a load bearing wall?
It depends on the span and on where the load has to go, but the parts are always the same: a beam sized by an engineer, posts under each end, and a load path down to something that can take a point load. On slab-on-grade that occasionally means cutting the slab and pouring a pad, which is far cheaper to find before demolition than during it.
Do I need a permit to remove an interior wall?
For a structural alteration, yes, and the jurisdiction will want to see the engineering. That is a good outcome rather than an obstacle: a beam somebody sized by eye is the sort of thing a buyer's inspector discovers years later, at the worst possible moment.
What happens if a load bearing wall is removed without a beam?
It does not fall over, which is what makes it dangerous. It sags: a door that stops closing, a crack that opens across a ceiling, a line in the drywall that comes back every time it is filled. The repair at that point is the original job plus the damage.
