Load-bearing wall

<p>A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a <a href="/facts/Wall/RsuthzLu">wall</a> that is an active <a href="/facts/Structural_element/BdYjdKrq">structural element</a> of a <a href="/facts/Building/edSjKXje">building</a>,  which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a <a href="/facts/Foundation_(engineering)/ACVkQsDy">foundation</a> structure below it.  
</p><p><a href="/facts/Structural_load/MAxjDyhc">Load</a>-bearing walls are one of the earliest forms of construction.  The development of the <a href="/facts/Flying_buttress/IGSyyjaH">flying buttress</a> in <a href="/facts/Gothic_architecture/uhvWpQ2r">Gothic architecture</a> 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 "<a href="/facts/Framing_(construction)/lcXEwDdP">platform framing</a>".  In the birth of the <a href="/facts/Skyscraper/5nM0naVB">skyscraper</a> era, the concurrent rise of <a href="/facts/Steel/aN6qWo4H">steel</a> as a more suitable <a href="/facts/Framing_(construction)/lcXEwDdP">framing system</a> first designed by <a href="/facts/William_Le_Baron_Jenney/xwl9wgj2">William Le Baron Jenney</a>, 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.
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Load-bearing wall open-in-new

Load-bearing wall