Load bearing or bearing walls

Exterior walls that connects ceiling, roof or upper floor loads to the foundation are load bearing. Internal walls that support joists to foundations are also bearing walls. Bearing walls usually have perpendicular joists or rafters resting on top of them and foundations underneath them.

Foundation and Footing
A house always needs a strong foundation. Depending upon where a house was built, the foundation may be made of stone, brick, preservative-treated lumber, concrete block or poured concrete. Most houses have a raised, perimeter foundation that supports floors and walls. There are three types of conventional concrete foundations. They are:

• Poured concrete
  A poured-concrete foundation may be a raised foundation, a flat slab or a combination of the two. Houses in warm climates may have a monolithic slab, where footings, foundation and slab are a single unit.

• Concrete blocks
  Concrete blocks are used for standard foundation wall construction. Here they are supported by a concrete footing; both are reinforced with steel rods and the concrete blocks are filled with grout.

• Concrete pier
  A concrete pier, resting on a footing is used to support beams at mid-span. Even though some older homes rest on piers, this method has been phased out in favor of stronger foundations.

The bottom part of a foundation is called a footing.