How a house is built
Where the weight goes
Gravity load moves from the roof through the walls and into the ground. This sketch does not size that path.
Arrow keys turn the house. Plus and minus, or the zoom buttons, change the zoom. A horizontal drag turns it after you tap the drawing. Reset view returns to the step camera.
The drawing needs WebGL. The notes on the page still stand.
Weight from the roof, the floors, and snow or people has to reach the ground without a gap. That route is the load path. On a wood house it is usually roof to walls or beams, walls to the foundation, and the foundation to the soil.
On this house the outside walls of the main wing and the garage are drawn as the bearing lines. The highlighted walls are that idea, not a check of what they can carry. A partition that only divides rooms is not on that path in this sketch. On a real house, look at what sits on a wall before anyone removes it.
Wind and earthquakes are a different path. They push sideways and are carried by the floors into braced walls. That is the lateral page.