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Hi all,
Not had much experience in knocking down walls/structual work however will preface my post by saying I will not undertake any work before having it properly reviewed by a structural engineer - just can't get him out anytime soon so looking for initial thoughts. Saying that I'm quite handy and have done all aspects of the downstairs renovation so far (apart from plumbing & gas work).
The house is a 1907 semi detached properly we bought 6 months ago to renovate as our first home - the staircase runs from the front door (which is on the side of the property) straight up through the middle of the house to the landing.
The landing is very enclosed and dark so we were wondering if we could open it up by knocking through one of the internal walls at the top of the stairs. The wall is a brick wall but we're unsure if it's load-bearing or not. I've taken some small areas back to brick and can see a wooden lintel above the door frame - don't know if this is simply supporting the brickwork up to the ceiling or offering some structural support to the attic/roof joists above.
Looking in the attic I THINK the joists span the length of the house apart from a single joist which has been cut in half (?) to fit in the attic hatch, in an opposite direction to the wall I want to knock through. Don't really know about roof/attic structures - are there likely to be any beams under these joists for support?
One side of the chopped joist is above the bathroom/back bedroom stud wall so unsure what's actually supporting it and the other half is above the wall I want to knock down on one side of the landing, and the wall to the main bedroom on the other side of the landing. The attic has been boarded over so it's difficult to get a look underneath.
I've attached some pictures to explain which part of the wall we're looking to knock through to open up the landing stair case, along with some very rough MS paint drawn plans of the first floor & attic.
Are initial thoughts that the wall would be okay to knock through without adding additional support or not? Should I bother? Am I going to run into any other problems??
Happy to provide extra info/pics for understanding.
Cheers,
Phil
p.s. we've tested the artex and no asbestos so don't worry
Not had much experience in knocking down walls/structual work however will preface my post by saying I will not undertake any work before having it properly reviewed by a structural engineer - just can't get him out anytime soon so looking for initial thoughts. Saying that I'm quite handy and have done all aspects of the downstairs renovation so far (apart from plumbing & gas work).
The house is a 1907 semi detached properly we bought 6 months ago to renovate as our first home - the staircase runs from the front door (which is on the side of the property) straight up through the middle of the house to the landing.
The landing is very enclosed and dark so we were wondering if we could open it up by knocking through one of the internal walls at the top of the stairs. The wall is a brick wall but we're unsure if it's load-bearing or not. I've taken some small areas back to brick and can see a wooden lintel above the door frame - don't know if this is simply supporting the brickwork up to the ceiling or offering some structural support to the attic/roof joists above.
Looking in the attic I THINK the joists span the length of the house apart from a single joist which has been cut in half (?) to fit in the attic hatch, in an opposite direction to the wall I want to knock through. Don't really know about roof/attic structures - are there likely to be any beams under these joists for support?
One side of the chopped joist is above the bathroom/back bedroom stud wall so unsure what's actually supporting it and the other half is above the wall I want to knock down on one side of the landing, and the wall to the main bedroom on the other side of the landing. The attic has been boarded over so it's difficult to get a look underneath.
I've attached some pictures to explain which part of the wall we're looking to knock through to open up the landing stair case, along with some very rough MS paint drawn plans of the first floor & attic.
Are initial thoughts that the wall would be okay to knock through without adding additional support or not? Should I bother? Am I going to run into any other problems??
Happy to provide extra info/pics for understanding.
Cheers,
Phil
p.s. we've tested the artex and no asbestos so don't worry