On 2004-11-04,
wrote:

I have an engineering question: if a point load bears on the top plate
of a stud wall, does the stud wall spread out the load by the time it
reaches the bottom plate?

How many pounds of point load? What kind of studs, on what centers?

In the scenario I was considering, a header would pick up two 12'
floor joists 16" on center and one end would be supported by the stud
wall. As to the specifics of the stud wall, that is flexible. Anyway,
it is not a lot of weight, as 12' x 4' = 48 sq ft, but the end of the
header only carries 1/4 of that, so 12 sq ft @ 50 lb/sqft = 600 lbs.

In my application, the stud wall is on a 4" concrete slab that (I think)
can handle a wall load of 300 lbs/ft, so I'm trying to figure out whether
I need to add a footing.

300 lb/ft sounds weak. You might check that again.

Yeah, I picked the smallest number I saw, so I could err on the side
of safety, since I didn't know the flexural strength of the concrete
or the strength of the subsoil.

Cheers, Wayne

P.S. I'm probably not going to go with this design, but I'm still
interested. It's been fun learning how to size beams.