A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a

wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the sup ...

that is an active

structural element Structural elements are used in structural analysis to split a complex structure into simple elements. Within a structure, an element cannot be broken down (decomposed) into parts of different kinds (e.g., beam or column). Structural elements can ...

of a

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...

, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

structure below it. Load-bearing walls are one of the earliest forms of construction. The development of the

flying buttress The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It ...

allowed structures to maintain an open interior space, transferring more weight to the buttresses instead of to central bearing walls. In housing, load-bearing walls are most common in the light construction method known as "

platform framing Framing, in construction, is the fitting together of pieces to give a structure support and shape. Framing materials are usually wood, engineered wood, or structural steel. The alternative to framed construction is generally called ''mass wal ...

". In the birth of the skyscraper era, the concurrent rise of steel as a more suitable framing system first designed by

William Le Baron Jenney William Le Baron Jenney (September 25, 1832 – June 14, 1907) was an American architect and engineer who is known for building the first skyscraper in 1884. In 1998, Jenney was ranked number 89 in the book ''1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ran ...

, and the limitations of load-bearing construction in large buildings, led to a decline in the use of load-bearing walls in large-scale commercial structures.

Description

A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a

that is an active

of a

, that is, it bears the weight of the elements above said wall, resting upon it by conducting its weight to a

structure. The materials most often used to construct load-bearing walls in large buildings are

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

, or brick. By contrast, a curtain wall provides no significant structural support beyond what is necessary to bear its own materials or conduct such loads to a bearing wall.

History

Load-bearing walls are one of the earliest forms of construction. The development of the

allowed structures to maintain an open interior space, transferring more weight to the buttresses instead of to central bearing walls. The

Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

is an example of a load-bearing wall structure with flying buttresses.

Application

Depending on the type of building and the number of floors, load-bearing walls are gauged to the appropriate thickness to carry the weight above them. Without doing so, it is possible that an outer wall could become unstable if the load exceeds the strength of the material used, potentially leading to the collapse of the structure. The primary function of this wall is to enclose or divide space of the building to make it more functional and useful. It provides privacy, affords security, and gives protection against heat, cold, sun or rain.

Housing

In housing, load-bearing walls are most common in the light construction method known as "

", and each load-bearing wall sits on a wall sill plate which is mated to the lowest base plate. The sills are bolted to the

masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...

or concrete

The ''

top plate A plate or wall plate is a horizontal, structural, load-bearing member in wooden building framing. Timber framing A plate in timber framing is "A piece of Timber upon which some considerable weight is framed...Hence Ground-Plate...Window-plat ...

'' or ''ceiling plate'' is the top of the wall, which sits just below the platform of the next floor (at the ceiling). The ''base plate'' or ''

floor plate The floor plate is a structure integral to the developing nervous system of vertebrate organisms. Located on the ventral midline of the embryonic neural tube, the floor plate is a specialized glial structure that spans the anteroposterior axis f ...

'' is the bottom attachment point for the

wall stud A wall stud is a vertical repetitive framing member in a building's wall of smaller cross section than a post. It is a fundamental element in frame building. Etymology ''Stud'' is an ancient word related to similar words in Old English, Old No ...

s. Using a top plate and a bottom plate, a wall can be constructed while it lies on its side, allowing for end-nailing of the studs between two plates, and then the finished wall can be tipped up vertically into place atop the wall sill; this not only improves accuracy and shortens construction time, but also produces a stronger wall.

Skyscrapers

Due to the immense weight of skyscrapers, the base and walls of the lower floors must be extremely strong.

Piling A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural elemen ...

s are used to anchor the building to the bedrock underground. For example, the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building as well as the world's tallest structure, uses specially treated and mixed reinforced concrete. Over of concrete, weighing more than were used to construct the concrete and steel foundation, which features 192 piles, with each pile being 1.5 m diameter × 43 m long ( × ) and buried more than deep.

References