Non Load Bearing Roof Truss

When joists trusses are perpendicular to the wall and bear on the top of the wall that wall is bearing wall.

Non load bearing roof truss. Roof trusses support a roof s weight by transferring the weight load downward and outward to the building s bearing walls. A pitch truss with a sloping or non sloping vertical interior ceiling detail. Actually a quick way to determine if the wall is bearing is to cut hole at the top to see if it has one or two top plates. I always use details to show separation and clips between non load bearing walls and trusses.

Chances are this is a non bearing wall. 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. If the wall in question is parallel to the joists trusses it will likely not be load bearing. It can take various forms and often used for aesthetic purposes adding height and focal interest to the ceiling.

If there are two plates refer to an engineer. For example a gable end truss may be designed with support members that transmit the roof weight load outward to the side walls allowing the end wall directly below it to have breaks or openings in it that would otherwise be impossible. This type of truss is perfect for the dining room living room great room and kitchen. They do this by means of top chords which are sloping members that extend from the peak of the roof to the top of the exterior walls at the eaves.

Most simple construction truss roof home s roof and trusses are supported by the exterior walls perpendicular to the trusses. On a recent project with precision end trimmed studs the contractor suggested using a single top plate at the non load bearing walls so all the studs could be the same length and not have an issue at non load bearing walls. One way to ensure non loadbearing is to set the non loadbearing walls at a lower level than the loadbearing walls. An example of a non load bearing partition wall can be seen on the left.

One top plate and a space between the bottom chord of the truss and the top of the wall non load bearing. Non loadbearing walls as designated shall not carry any truss loading and shall not be packed to touch the underside of trusses see figure below.