Edit 2: I called an engineer and paid for his evaluation of the wall. It's not load bearing. Realized that I left out some basics about the house.
This house is built on a raised foundation with cripple walls attaching the floor joists to the foundation. The metal post is attached to the fireplace foundation (which is independent of the houses foundation). There is no foundation (just 3 feet of empty air) underneath the wall I want to remove. The header is just oddly sized.
The header does not connect to the beam.
Edit 1: I decided to punch a hole above the door frame. The header is a 4x6, but the cripple studs do not attach to the Beam(which is load bearing). I was able to get into the "attic" and look at the top plate of the wall. It's a 2x4, nailed to the side of the 2x8 rafter.
I followed the link below for how to identify if your wall is load bearing: Are there ways to determine if a wall is load bearing?
If there is a load bearing wall or beam directly above or below this wall, it is likely load bearing. There is a load bearing beam above the wall, it's supported by it's own metal pole directly to the foundation.
If there's a single top plate, the wall most likely isn't load bearing. I found what looks like a single top plate, nailed to the side of a rafter. There is a gap between the top plate and the roof.
Expose the wall over a doorway or pass-through. If it's a solid 2x6 or greater turned vertically going from the jack stud on one side to the other, there's a good chance the wall is load bearing. If there are only cripple studs on a flat 2x4 to give you something to attach the drywall, it likely isn't load bearing. It's a 4x6, which seems very beefy for the location. However, there is nothing under the king / jack studs but a single 2x4. They aren't tied directly to the foundation.
So, overall pretty confused.
Original post I have a wall in my house I would like to eventually remove completely. But, in the mean time I am just trying to make the opening to the kitchen bigger.
I am trying to figure out if I should stop where I am at, or keep going up, so that the ceiling is continuous between then kitchen and living room.
I don’t think the wall is load bearing, I have access to the crawl space and the wall is not built directly on the foundation. There is a beam that runs the length of the house which I don’t think is supported by the wall because there is metal pole that supports the beam in the living room (see picture).
There was a pocket door in the wall, and I just finished removing that and cutting back all the drywall, but I want to keep going up to the cathedral ceiling…however, I don’t know if the door frame is providing any support for the roof/ ceiling or the beam.
The door frame seems to be two 2x4s, and the header seems to be three 2x4s (as measured with a stud finder) there seems to be one stud going from the beam to the header. According to the stud finder the two 2x4s may go all the way to the roof (past the header)
If I pull off the drywall what do I need to look for to know if I can remove the header and continue opening the wall to the ceiling/roof?
Few pictures
