On 1-Jul-2005, wrote:

They MUST be load bearing walls. In most homes the wall down the
center of the house IS the load bearing wall. The way to find out is
to see if that wall is on top of the support beam in the basement.

Maybe where you live, but I've seen lots of bungalows built with a
centre support beam holding up the floors and full span roof
trusses. The centre wall in those cases is not load bearing.

Mike