Bearing Wall Wood

 

History

 

The use of load-bearing walls is very old. Since the construction of the aqueducts of ancient Rome, and even the buildings of the Greek civilization, which still exist today. However, in the era of skyscrapers, the use of steel and concrete in construction, and the limitations of load-bearing structures in large buildings, led to a decline in the use of these types of walls on a large scale.

 

 

Definition

 

Bearing wall (or load-bearing wall) is a wall that supports and transfers loads directly into the foundations of the structure.

 

Wood Load Bearing construction uses stud walls to transfer significant amounts of load created from the roof, upper floors, and live loads acting on a building to the floor structure and foundation below (see Figure 2).

 

The main components of the wall itself are the studs, sole (bottom) and top plates, and headers. There are multiple types of studs based on their location and purpose within the wall itself.  

 

• Jack studs support the header used above a rough opening for a door or window.  

• Cripple studs fill the gap between the bottom plate and sill plate, or the gap between the top plate and a header.

•  King studs are adjacent to the jack studs and extend from bottom to top plate.  There is no special name for the most common stud which is typically placed 16" on center in the wall.  

 

Load bearing structures constructed of wood is often referred to as wood framing. This type of construction is similar to wood post and beam, but fundamentally different (see Figure 1).

 

In a post and beam structure, the beam carries the loads from above laterally to the posts which transfer the load through to the foundation. In a load bearing wall, the entire wall transfers load through to the foundation (see Figure 2).

 

The load is carried laterally to the wall by floor joists above or the roof structure. Roofs used with wood bearing walls can be either truss roofs or a rafter system with a ridge beam.  The truss or rafter will transfer the roof load through the bearing wall below.  

 

Types of Foundations

 

Foundation is a term used in engineering to describe the structure responsible for transmitting requests of the buildings to the ground. There are many kinds of foundations, and they are designed taking into account the load and the type of soil where they will be built. Examples of foundations used along with bearing walls:

 

• Raft or mat foundations: made of a thick reiforced concrete slab covering the entire area of the bottom of the structure, like a floor (see Figure 3). The slab is reinforced with bars. 

• Footings: these types of foundations are typically made of concrete with rebar reinforcement, that has been poured into an excavated trench. The purpose of footings is to support the foundation and prevent settling.

• Pile foundations: they are deep foundations. They are formed by long and columnar elements typically made from steel or reinforced concrete, and sometimes timber.