← Glossary
Building elements

Centre bearing wall

A centre bearing wall is a load-bearing interior wall, usually along the middle of a house, that supports floors or roof between the external walls.

Also known as center bearing wall, central load-bearing wall, spine wall, interior bearing wall, mid support

When floor joists or roof members cannot span the full width of a building, a load-bearing wall in the middle halves the span. It carries load down to its own foundation and cannot be removed without replacing its support.

Roofs built with fully triangulated trusses usually span wall to wall without it, which leaves the plan free. Frame (A-) trusses and many floor structures, on the other hand, rely on a centre bearing wall.

Related terms
Frame truss (A-truss)A frame truss (A-truss) is a roof truss built as an open frame of rafters, tie, collar beam and side struts, leaving the roof space free for a room. Floor joistA floor joist is one of the parallel horizontal beams that carry a floor and span between walls or beams. Span (truss span)The span of a truss is the distance it covers between its supports, normally measured from the outside of one bearing wall to the outside of the other.
From term to production line

Talk to Randek

Building this at scale? Tell us what you produce and we’ll point you to the right system.

Talk to your team Back to the glossary
Talk to your team