Opening up a staircase

[MissyG]

Apologies if this has been answered before, i've had a brief look and couldn't find anything..

I'm just about to buy my first house, and the one we are most likely to make an offer on seems almost perfect, it has the biggest rooms, it's cheap, has a good size garden, good development potential, everything's great except one thing... the entrance hall. Which to me is a really important room, it's the first thing you see, and first impressions really do count!

the hall is 2.11m x 1.79m so not huge, but the staircase is just off the hall, and closed off with a wall. My hope is that i can take out that wall, and replace it with a banister.. how easy is that to do? baring in mind i've never done any DIY that isn't building flat pack furnature and putting up pictures! i figure for a builder it would be a day job if that, but i'm not really in the know on these things.. so my question to you is, could i do it myself, and how? or shall i get a builder in and what do you think it would be likely to cost? (excluding cost of bannister / spindles etc as i can get them myself.

thank you!! i'll probably be bugging you alot over the coming months while i get my house looking like it should! it's super cheap.. but hasn't got much in it!

 

[Deluks]

Yes, should be a days work for a builder. Do you know what it's made of or if it's a loadbearing wall?

 

[MissyG]

It's definately not a load bearing wall, but i'm not sure what it's made of, and it's a pain for me to find out too because we're not in the house yet.. but i'm pleased to hear it would only be a days work. That makes it a lot easier for me to budget into my renovation costs. Thanks deluks

 

[big-all]

you need to be carefull that the stair is able to support its self
the strings[supporting sides] may not be substantial enough if you remove the wall

if theres a landing it will befinatly need support
they could even be treads affixed to the wall unusual but possible
you need to check