Walls come in two types, load bearing and non-load bearing. This can be a critical difference whether adding new, repairing, modifying or removing a wall in your home.

Exterior walls are load bearing. Interior walls can be load bearing or simply used for partitioning.

When modifying a load bearing wall, a secondary support must be installed. Then the wall can be safely repaired or in the case of a new wndow or door, aheader is used to span the length of joists that are removed.