The wall in this picture is in the middle of a large, previously framed but unfinished basement.
I'm trying to figure out if there is proper support in the top beam for me to remove a stud (or two) to create a doorway. All wood is 2X6.
Can anyone help?
Are these wall studs for your first floor?
If so then you need a proper header above the door and double up or triple the 2x6 studs on the outside of the door to support the header. The header should have 3 boards to accommodate the wall thickness. A 2x6 header is probably sufficient but I would go for 2x8 or 2x10 if it doesn't impede head clearance. Better to over-engineer than to under-engineer. Speaking of engineer, you may wish to consult with one.
It's looking more and more like a load-bearing wall. I don't think they double up the top plate for the fun of it when building a cosmetic wall.
I agree with @FreeMan , it does not appear to be a load bearing wall. There are several ways to check:
Does the wall run parallel to the floor joists? It appears that it does. If so, it does not support floor load. However, you’ll need to check if other loads rest on the wall.
If there are upper floors, check to see if their joists run the same direction as this floor.
Roof framing can be tricky. Check to see that all framing is supported by other walls.
Headers above wall. Check to see there are no individual posts that extend down to the wall.
Footings: Check to see if there is an exposed stem wall under the wall. Sometimes the stem wall footing is held down below the slab so you’ll only see the slab. To check this, look at the sole plate and see if there are anchor bolts. If there are, check to see they are the same size AND spacing as those around the perimeter. If they are, it could be a bearing wall.
Plywood on wall: The wall could be a shear wall. If so it would have plywood on it (or perhaps two layers of wallboard). It would also have large washers (3” dia.) on the anchor bolts.
A closeup pic would help. It looks like blocking installed between the joists and the wall below is non load bearing. But, you'd have to confirm this by looking at what's above the joists on the next floor above. If there's a wall or posts on the same spot, then it's carrying some load and will need to be header'ed out with double and jack studs/etc on either side of the new opening.
You can triangulate the location and transfer to the floor above to find if there's weight on this wall or not.
more pics of the metal beam you describe would help.
A bit confused by the early pics. Is that above that basement wall? Then the blocking between joists is making a chaise for the hvac ducting. Is that so?
