load bearing wall?

[am3gross]

i am going to be putting in a 210 gal in wall setup.; i dont know if the wall i want to put it in is a load bearing wall. how can i tell if it is or not?

 

[RocketEngineer]

Are there any walls above it? Is it at/near the center line of the house?

 

[am3gross]

there are no walls above it. it is a 1 story house. the rafters in the addic run the same way from front to back of the house. to try and get a better idea the wall is only supporting the 1 rafter and not multiple rafters. does this make sense or does it even matter? should i go ahead and put in a header jsut in case?

 

[Reefski's]

yes, put in a header.

 

[am3gross]

great thanks! just wanted another opinion.

 

[Toolguy942]

Typically, in a one story house, if the ceiling joists are running parallel to the wall it is not load bearing, but this isn't always true. Assuming you meant ceiling joists vs. rafters (the slanted 2x lumber that the roof sheathing is nailed onto), I would say your wall isn't load bearing. The safest thing to do would be to spend the money on a structural engineer, but if you add the header you will be erring on the side of safety without spending the $$ on the SE.

 

[RocketEngineer]

If all it would supporting is a single ceiling joist then I doubt it is a load bearing wall. Putting in a small header will help keep things stucturally sould but I think a two 2X6's sandwiching a 1/2 piece of plywood should be all you need.

 

[Louis]

Header pictures:

Tank thread: 215 In Wall Build

 

[am3gross]

yeah this thread is what gave me the idea to go ahead and put 1 in. it looks so easy!

 

[dkh0331]

I just put in a header in my home office remodel. The header is 2 - 2X12's with a 3/4" piece of plywood, same set up as Louis.