Is the wall safe to come down???

[M8ch1n]

Hi all, in have a 1930 semi detached and I am looking at taking down a wall upstairs. The wall in question separate's a single toilet from the bathroom which also has a toilet bath etc. Apparently this used to be thing back in the day but to me opening it up to make a larger bathroom makes more sense now. Anyway I drilled a test hole through the wall and to my suprise found it to be orange dust. It quite easy to drill through so not sure it's actually brick?? There is no wall under this wall and it is within 1 meter of a load bearing wall. Also the layout downstairs is identical and this only has the 4 external walls for support. I have inspected in the loft and there is nothing above it except the normal joists which run straight across where the wall is. I am just suprised as it is a pretty solid wall for upstairs with nothing under it. It is however sat on one of the floor joist but built directly on top of the floorboards. Any advice on weather I need to support the ceiling/loft floor when this is out or will it be fine to come down?? I've attached a pic of the floor plan's upstairs and down to try and make it clearer. Wall to come down is in red. Thanks in advance.

 

[TheVictorian]

It sounds highly likely that it will be absolutely fine to remove. A photo of the top of the wall from the loft would enable us to confirm this.

 

[tomfe]

For a 4 bed house I would want at least 2 toilets.

 

[M8ch1n]

OK I've attached a picture of the top of the wall in the loft. I agree 2 toilets, I plan for one downstairs under the staircase. The small one upstairs has no sink and no space for one hence the decision to knock through. Thank you.

 

[chappers]

so the joists are running parallel to the wall and the wall is just built off of the floor. If so then yes it will be fine to take it down.

 

[Tigercubrider]

My 50's house had a similar wall between the bathroom and toilet. It was built after the floorboards were in, and was built out of a mixture of brick and terracotta hollow blocks like roofing tiles.

 

[M8ch1n]

No. The joists in the loft run front to back of the house. Joists on the floor below run left to right. This means the loft joist cross this particular wall. I ended up getting a pro round today just to confirm and he says it can come down with no extra support required. It looks like a mixture of brick and terrocotta to me. Can I ask what was the best weapon of choice to bring the wall down? I am thinking sledge hammer atm. Thanks to everyone for their advice on this.

 

[chappers]

yeah probably, although you may want to just smash out the top and then take the rest down in courses, either with a club hammer or hammer and bolster, will be less messy

 

[Steve]

I've just done this in my house. Well worth it. See my thread in "your projects". Mine was just blockwork, but was tied into the external wall. The walls in my house were built after the door frames were built and after the ceilings were boarded!

 

[M8ch1n]

OK thanks for this.
Looks like mine is tied in too. Just started it and I can see timber beams into the external wall. I assume it's still good to come down.