This won't replace an engineer standing in your basement, and it isn't supposed to. These are the questions that come up before that visit gets booked – what the quiz can tell you, what things cost, what's in the letter, and how far we'll drive to get there.
No, and the tool never claims to be. Six questions in about forty seconds give you a likelihood – high, inconclusive, or low – based on the signals that usually predict a bearing wall: which way the joists run, what sits on the floor above, what holds up the floor below.
The online wall check does not replace an on-site assessment and is not permission to begin demolition. Request an engineer’s review of the actual property.
Good enough to tell you whether it's worth calling. Not good enough to tell your contractor to start demo. The questions are built around what an engineer actually checks first – framing direction, what the wall carries above and below – so a high score usually holds up on site.
A low score means the obvious signals didn't turn up — it isn't a green light to start swinging a sledgehammer. Houses hide things: a load path that jogs mid-span, a beam buried behind a soffit, framing a previous owner altered without telling anyone.
Because the floor joists run a different direction. A wall running parallel to the joists above it is usually just holding up drywall and a light switch. The identical-looking wall next door, framed with the joists running the other way, can be carrying half the second floor.
The neighbor's wall coming out with no problems tells you nothing about yours. It's a coincidence of framing, not a precedent.
Book the visit. An inconclusive score usually just means the framing isn't visible from wherever the quiz assumes you're looking – a finished basement, a sealed-up attic hatch, joists running an odd direction for the house's shape.
If the quiz result is inconclusive, request an assessment. The engineer can discuss what records and access are needed to evaluate the wall.
One engineer, in your basement or attic for 45 to 75 minutes, reading the joist bearing, what's stacked above the wall, and what's actually holding it up below – then telling you the answer before he leaves.
The assessment addresses the agreed structural question. Its findings determine the next step; the service does not promise a particular outcome.
Removal design depends on the opening, the supported loads, and the required construction details. Request a quote for the actual proposed alteration.
You get the specific figure after the visit, once the engineer knows what he's actually sizing. A six-foot opening on a single-story ranch and an eighteen-foot opening under two floors and a roof aren't the same drawing, and the sealed package itself follows three business days after the visit either way.
Clear a path to the basement, crawlspace, or attic, wherever the framing is visible, and if you already know which way your joists run, that helps. Neither is required.
Most of what we need to see is unfinished space, not the room with the wall in it. Nobody needs to open drywall, move furniture, or tidy up beforehand.
Confirm the assessment scope in writing. If further investigation or design is needed, discuss that additional work before authorizing it.
If your address falls outside the no-travel counties, the travel add-on is quoted when you book, not added afterward. Nothing gets sprung on you once he's already in the house.
If the engineer determines that no structural design is needed for the proposed change, ask what documentation and other approvals are still required for your project.
There's no repair here to upsell you into – we don't install beams or pour footings, so a partition finding costs us nothing. You get the verbal answer on site and written confirmation the next day, and that's the whole file.
Three audiences, one document. For the permit office: the engineer's wet-signed seal with license number and expiration, the code basis the design used, and a plain statement of scope – which wall, which opening, what's coming out and what's replacing it.
For your contractor: the beam spec, post and connection details at both ends, footing verification or a new footing detail, and the shoring sequence for getting the beam in safely. For you: a plain-language summary up front and a direct line to the engineer who signed it, not a support queue.
Most St. Louis-area jurisdictions want exactly this before they'll issue for structural alteration – a sealed letter from a licensed engineer – and that's what the letter is built to satisfy.
The code basis on the letter references the governing residential code edition your jurisdiction has adopted, not a generic template. If your permit office wants something specific beyond the standard package, mention it before the visit and it gets built in.
It comes up more than you'd think, and it's usually fixable. The engineer looks at what's actually carrying the load today and tells you whether it's holding the way it should or needs a retrofit.
For a completed alteration, send the lender or permit reviewer’s actual request. We can discuss the assessment needed to address the work already in place.
Sometimes, and it surprises people. A partition can still trip a permit requirement if there's electrical, plumbing, or HVAC running through it, since moving the wall means moving whatever's inside it too.
The written confirmation you get after a non-bearing determination notes what was found in the wall, so you and your contractor aren't guessing about that part either.
The governing residential code your jurisdiction has adopted, stated plainly on the letter, along with the load assumptions used to size the beam.
We don't put specific code section numbers on this page, for the same reason we wouldn't text them to you – jurisdictions adopt different editions, codes get amended, and the letter is the document that has to stay current, not the website.
A real person replies within one business day, not an autoresponder reading a script. The visit itself is usually scheduled within 3 business days of booking, sometimes sooner if the calendar has room.
Rush is available when a crew is standing around waiting on the answer, which happens more often than you'd guess.
No travel charge across St. Louis City and County, St. Charles, Jefferson, and Franklin counties, plus the Metro East: Madison, St. Clair, and Monroe counties in Illinois.
Lincoln, Warren, Washington, and Ste. Genevieve counties, and generally anything inside about sixty miles, carry a travel add-on quoted up front. Farther than that – Columbia, Rolla, Cape Girardeau – we batch trips when there's enough work to justify the drive, and we'll say honestly if a local engineer makes more sense.
Because nothing gets sealed that wasn't seen. The engineer who walks your basement is the same one who signs the letter – no subcontracted inspector, no technician writing up somebody else's photos, no franchise model splitting the liability from the signature.
If a report has a seal on it here, that's because the person who signed it was standing in your house, not reviewing a stranger's photos from an office.
Professional liability – errors and omissions – coverage of $2,000,000 aggregate and $1,000,000 per claim, through an A+ rated carrier.
A certificate is available on request. Most lenders and permit offices that ask just want to confirm the number is in line with what a licensed structural engineer normally carries, and it is.
An engineer stands in your house, reads the load path, and tells you straight: this wall goes, or this wall stays and here's what it costs to open it anyway.
Is It Load Bearing is the residential-structural arm of Scapular Engineering, LLC. The same PE seals load-bearing letters here, manufactured-home certifications at Midwest MFG Inspection, and aluminum-wiring certs at STL Alumiconn. One license, one $2M policy, one phone number.
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