I want to get a builder in to knock down the wall between our lounge and dining room. Can anyone tell me if the whole dividing wall can go or do you need to leave a very small bit of the wall at each edge? The reason I want to know is that once the two rooms are one there will be an expanse of wall between the fireplace in what was the dining room and the fireplace that was in the lounge. I want to put a big free standing sideboard in this space but cant if there is still a bit of the wall sticking out.
2007-04-23 02:14:26 · 13 answers · asked by terryscopic 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Decorating & Remodeling
Is your house terraced or detached,semi detached. Most builders keep a pier (sticky out bit) to support the RSJ. If you go into the dividing wall between you and your neighbour, which is ok you will need to get a party wall agreement, and this on ocassions where the grief starts. If your on best terms with them its not usually a problem, your neighbours entitled to appoint their own surveyors to oversee the work at YOUR expense, and I have seen this add £1500 to the bill.Your builder should advise.
2007-04-23 08:31:20 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would advise you to sketch out what you are proposing as you need to see if the one room will be balanced if you know the wall down.
We did as you describe but never drew a sketch before hand. I now find myself with and unbalanced room that is hard to arrange.
All the best and I'm sure it will be fine once you have sorted out a few things first off before getting the builder to take down the wall. He will probably have to put in an RSJ reinforced joist to strengthen the ceilings.and you will end up with the two small bits at the end of each wall anyhow or even an archway..
2007-04-23 02:20:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
first find out if the middle wall is load bearing ..if it is and the floor joist run parallel to it then then the builder would have to knock holes in the wall upstairs at regular intervals ..insert what we call needles ..then prop these off the floor ...and then prop these from the ground floor directly underneath them ..only then can you start to remove the wall...the steel should be at least an 8 by 4 and should have a minimum bearing of the full width of the brick ..if you were leaving wings then the bearing should be 150mm...if you are taking all the wall out ..then you would have to chop a hole in the outside wall..because you have two fixed ends the steel would be too long without going through the wall and bringing it back again to fit on the pad stone the other end ..the padstone should be at least two coarse of blue bricks ..finaly you must tell building control what you are doing ..as they like to look at all steels ..and as you will not live in this house forever .if you do it without building control then you will have all sorts of problems when you try to sell it ..so dont do it !
2007-04-23 08:40:47 · answer #3 · answered by boy boy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Deadman is correct. Get a structural engineer to work it out and I'm sure the steel lintel will need a certain amount of wall to rest on. When I did my kitchen (13 foot gap) I had to leave a 600mm pillar on either side, chop up a concrete lintel to make blocks to sit on the wall and the steel to sit on the blocks.
The other way is to get steel standing up the wall to the new steel lintel but you're talking a few notes.
If the house has a cavity, the inner leaf could be 100mm wide concrete blocks. Imagine trying to place the end of a steel lintel onto that taking the weight of the wall above.
2007-04-23 08:48:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Before knocking out the whole wall, You probably first should put a beam ( H-profile ) to support the ceiling load. I advise You to see a constructor to avoid any damage. The best solution is to ask a Engineer student to make a small estimate of the Beam size. Good luck
2007-04-23 02:31:10 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on the stuctural integrity of the house - if you are to remove the wall, there must be enough room left for the supporting RSJ to sit at each end - so you may have to have some wall remaining - the builder will advise you on that.
2007-04-23 02:19:02 · answer #6 · answered by jamand 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to get a structural engineer to check this out - we just had our wall knocked down and had to get a guy round to tell us it was safe to so so that we didn't get cracks in the wall and ceiling - it could be a supporting wall - for a few £'s you would have piece of mind
2007-04-23 02:18:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a builder with a free estimate. He will tell you exactly what you need to do and how much it will cost. Get the estimate in writing though - don`t let him be adding on as he goes along. Go to a reputable firm - costs more in the long run if you end up with cowboys.
2007-04-23 02:36:21 · answer #8 · answered by yahoobloo 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no, you can get rid of it all, but may need to build more support into the ceiling. best thing to do is get the builders in. and they can tell you what kind of support they need to build in. you never know, the wall may not even be load baring
2007-04-23 02:19:23 · answer #9 · answered by rykkers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you don't need to leave part of the wall but for support you probably will need to have a beam or two put in to help distribute the ceiling load
2007-04-23 02:17:38 · answer #10 · answered by Saint Lucipher 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋