Hey everyone! I'm planning to enlarge my daughter's closet and I need some help figuring out if the walls involved are load-bearing. I've done some reading, and most sources suggest they aren't, but I'm unsure due to the unique layout of our home—there's an angled roofline, some dead space above the closet, and a gap between the top of the closet and the ceiling (check out the photos linked here). I'm a hobbyist woodworker, but drywall and framing are new territory for me. Our house was built in 2004 by Toll Brothers in Northern Virginia. Any guidance on how to confirm whether these walls are load-bearing or not, and any precautions I should take before getting started, would be really appreciated! Thanks a lot!
3 Answers
From what you've described and the photos, it seems unlikely that those walls are load-bearing. Typically, trusses are designed to create a clear span across the space. What I see in your closet doesn't look like a load-bearing header.
Based on the photos and what you mentioned, it’s very likely not load-bearing. The framing looks like a typical non-structural closet or soffit under a pre-engineered roof truss system.
Here’s why:
1. The trusses in your attic have metal gang plates, which means they’re designed to support the exterior walls, leaving interior walls non-bearing.
2. Those two sticks labeled "2" and "3" seem to just provide extra support for the drywall, not actual load-bearing support.
3. The header above your closet opening appears to be just two 2x4s, which is common for non-bearing configurations. In load-bearing setups, you’d expect a deeper header with proper supports below it.
4. The setup looks like a soffit/knee-wall cavity leading to the attic, another sign it’s non-structural.
So, you should be good to go with your renovations! Just proceed with care, and you’ll be fine.
The wall that doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling definitely isn’t load-bearing. The back wall might be tricky to determine since it runs perpendicular to the trusses. There might be some load there, but it’s likely minimal.
Exactly! Also, keep in mind that the trusses usually sit on the exterior walls, not the closet walls. Just double-check those connections.