Professional help: If you are planning structural changes, such as removing walls, or if you are planning a complex design, you should hire an architect. An architect will help you detail exactly what you want, draw up plans and material specifications, and may provide oversight for your project while it's in progress. Hiring an architect can help eliminate confusion and could save you a lot of time and money. Architects typically charge an hourly or flat fee, so be sure to get an estimate of the total cost to draw up plans.

The Frame: Conventional house walls have an inner wooden framework. This framework may or may not support part of the house, but it does support exterior and interior wall coverings, windows and doors. It also provides cavities for electrical wiring, plumbing, ductwork, and insulation.

Walls: Although most walls are framed with two-by-four wall studs, two-by-sixes are used to provide more strength and larger cavities. Exterior walls, for example, may be framed with two-by-sixes to allow more room for insulation; some bathroom walls are framed with two-by-sixes to allow plenty of space for large pipes. Not all houses are framed with wooden wall studs. Some newer homes are built with metal studs, a practice adopted from commercial construction methods.

Multi-story houses are built one level at a time; each floor provides a platform for the next series of framing and walls. Most contemporary houses are built using the platform construction method. A basement does not count as a story.

Non-bearing walls may be perpendicular or parallel to joists or rafters. They often may be identified from under the house, because they're not supported by a foundation wall or beam. Because they don't support loads, they usually can be removed without compromising a structure's strength. Load-bearing walls include exterior walls that carry ceiling, roof, or upper floor loads to the foundation and internal walls that support joists at midspan. A joist is any of a set of parallel beams set from wall to wall to support the boards of a ceiling or floor.