Knee Wall-Birdmouth Cut-Load Bearing Question

Hey folks... I did try to find some reference to this issue in the threads and did not have any luck.

I am looking to do some fit out work in the negative space of my attic living area. I'm looking at the way this is set up and I'm scratching my head.

Basics that I know: Roof appears to be a 6:12 pitch, 2x6 rafters at 24oc, and a double 2x4 header knee wall with birdmouth cut into rafters. The knee wall has cripple studs (?) every 22-24 inches with a 2x4 footer. On the wall in question this spans about 23-24 feet.

My next door neighbor has the same exact house. His attic space did not have a knee wall. This indicates to me that the original roofing structure did not require a load bearing knee wall.

I think that someone at somepoint added this wall and it looks to me like the bird mouths may have been overcut. The the doubleheader fits entirely into the 2x6 rafters.

My question: Do I now have to treat this as load bearing wall impacting what studs can be removed? Will I need to build additional header depth to remove any of the cripple studs?

Any thoughts and/or advice is much appreciated. I do have a call into a structural engineer but I'm hoping to gain more insight into this.

Thanks in advance!!

How many studs do you want to remove. The rafters will be to week to not have support.

As a point of clarifying terminology; READS" a double 2x4 header knee wall with birdmouth cut into rafters. The knee wall has cripple studs (?) every 22-24 inches with a 2x4 footer. On the wall in question this spans about 23-24 feet."

a double 2x4 top plate knee wall with birdmouth cut into rafters. The knee wall has cripple studs every 22-24 inches with a 2x4 bottom plate or sil. On the wall in question is about 23-24 feet.

Notching the rafters as drastically as this reduces the rafter span from that of a 2X6, too that of a 2X4 and the dbl. top plate will not suffice as a header.

Is there a wall below, and parallel with, or within 3" either way from where the bottom plate is anchored to the ceiling joists?

A photo would be of great help.

bud16415 said:

A photo would be of great help.

Click to expand...

Like this.

nealtw said:

Like this.

Click to expand...

Yep defiantly load bearing.