Beam or no beam?

Hi,

origionally a 2 up 2 down brick built (solid walls) terrace approx.. 120-130 years old. The archway is in what was a dividing wall betwen the kitchen and lounge.


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This was done before we bought the house so we don't know if there's a beam above the arch. I would assume that there must be as the arch is wonky and rather crappily done so I hope it's not load bearing

How do I find out if there's a beam there without making too much mess???

I've drilled and made a channel through the plaster and found concrete, I assume it's blockwork but is it likely be a concrete beam? I'm guessing I don't want to make any unnecessary holes in it if it is.

There's no sign of wood or metal so far??? The wall sounds the same all over when I tap it, no obvious hollow sounds.

The wall is narrower than the brick piers and arch which also makes me think it'll be single blockwork.

The plan is: if there is a beam, remove the arch and square off the opening and frame it out with timber and possibly some folding doors in the future.

If there's not. leave it well alone and live with it

I'm not going to tackle it without a good understanding of what's going on and the help of a good builder, I just want to try and figure out what's there first without making a huge mess of the wall and incurring some serious rath from the mrs!!!

directly above the top of the arch, take out a 6 inch wide strip of plaster all the way to the ceiling.. then you can see what's over it..

or take the loorboards up above and see what the joists are sitting on?

which way do the floorboards run upstairs? parallel to the wall?

Cheers Coljack,

As soon as you mentioned floorboards I realised the beam would be higher than where I was looking for it!

The floorboards run the same direction as the wall, left to right (or right to left ) There are original exposed beams that run parallel to the wall so I guess the joists would run front to back.

I think you're right, lifting the floorboards and looking from above might be the answer.

Oh and please excuse the mess, it's the cleaners week off... honest

number49 said:

so I hope it's not load bearing

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An arch is inherently load bearing.

I can't think of a reason why someone would put a beam in here and form an arch - waste of time and waste of money.

A concrete lintel being put in retrospectively is very unlikely, so unless it is an original for a previous door, then you would probably assume that there is no sufficient concrete lintel.

And you wont be able to tell if a suitable beam is in place by lifting a floorboard alone - you wont see the depth.

The only way to tell, is to knock some plaster off

^woody^ said:

An arch is inherently load bearing.

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An expamet one isn't

It begs the question: why the hell is that arch there anyway? It's low (presumably to make it run under a beam to an original square opening - didn't think of that, eh, Woodster?!), cuts out so much light and the standard of construction is....about as good as FNT (God rest his soul ) would manage.

^woody^ said:

... so unless it is an original for a previous door

Click to expand...

Woods, you seem to be in a bad mood this eve.

Like to talk about it?

What do you mean bad mood?

There is a damn smiley there.

The most likely place for an rsj would be at the apex of the arch holding up and brick/blocks above it, then an Expemet arch to fill the corners out. Try drilling there.