House Wall Removal
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi,

I want to remove an upstair wall in my house:

I have a cupboard and sink room which I want to knock in to one room, the wall is made from 2 inch, thermolite type block, which is perpendicular to another wall of the same material which forms the wall between bedroom and cupboards.

The wall runs parallel to both floor and ceiling joists and perpendicular to floor board which the wall is sat on.

The is no walls beneath any of these on the ground floor and I don't have a loft, it is a flat roof.

Is there any rules of thumb which would suggest if this wall is supporting or not?

The roof timbers run the full length both sides of this wall as the diagram suggests.

Thanks

Jon

i would expect it is non-load bearing given the size of the blockwork however it is hard to tell without inspecting.

It could however be providing restraint to the other walls.

do you know anyone in the trade with a bit of savvy who wont charge to come and have a look?

If there is no continuation of this wall either above or below then you are ok to remove it and as the joists run the whole length there's no need for further support.

John Wayne Building co Ltd

I am nobody, nobody's perfect. Therefore I am perfect

From information given sounds fine to hammer away but for safety you could call some one for a free estimate & pick there brains while there ask how they will do it. Eg does it need a lintel etc

not always so i'm afraid

On 14th Mar, 2011 roguesaga said:
If there is no continuation of this wall either above or below then you are ok to remove it and as the joists run the whole length there's no need for further support.

John Wayne Building co Ltd

Depend which way joist run and what is above are the joist sat on the wall. Do the joist run the same wayas the wall you want to take out or do they fly over the top to the other wall?

If they fly over the top to the over wall then it depends on the size of the joist to the lengh it runs ie a 6x2 will be ok to span 3m

Craig

Craig

my mini van http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=448248

Hi

I have just pulled some of the ceiling down and there are 2 ceiling joists running perpendicular to the wall and travelling across it.

Betweem the wall and the joist is plasterboard though, which suggests to me the wall must have been built afterwards, after the plasterboard has been attached to the joists...

This must mean the wall cannot be structural, am I assuming correct?

Many Thanks

Jon

If you are not sure, get a professional in.

As Andy suggests.

while not necessarily in this case, the missconception is that walls simply hold things up; what people regularly miss is that they also provide support, bracing and tie other elements of the structure together

So the joist are running the same way as the wall to be removed and there is not another wall built on top of it in the room above

Craig

my mini van http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=448248

Jon, get someone to look at it; on line forums are not the place for this sort of thing

Rob

Got any photos? My first instinct is to say it's a dividing wall and can come down. It's certinally not supporting anything above unless there is a lintle below it.

And no supporting wall I've ever seen is made from 2" thick blockwork. And it must have been built after the ceiling from your investigations.

Is there evidence that the other walls it joins to were plastered before this was put up? If so I'd be pretty happy to take it down as it has been added after construction.

Not my house though.

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Just to add to this. If it was a structural or retaining wall it would have to have been constructed prior to boarding out the ceiling. Otherwise whatever it was holding up would have been at risk of falling over while sticking the ceiling up.

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