Any problems with single plaster board wall under stairs?

[Lusi83]

Not sure if this the right place...
My stairs are in two sections...I have a half flight (7 stairs), landing area (width of the two stair ways) and then another half flight going in the opposite direction. Between the flights is a plaster board wall.
Originally under the landing area there was a smallish, low height cupboard containing the electric meter. MCB and gas meter (as well as some clutter!). The area under the higher flight of stairs was part of the hall. Years ago I had this area boxed in with a door to form a cloakroom area but left the original cupboard.

Problem I have is that it is quite narrow (width of the stairs) and with coats and bags hung up on either side it is a struggle to get into the original cupboard...
I have decided to remove the doors and most of the frame of this cupboard making a bigger area without the hassle of opening the doors ...
I was also thinking of opening up under the first flight of stairs - (but found there is no floor under there and that might be too much work!)
However making the holes in the plasterboard to look made me think...
Could I remove the inner layer of the plasterboard wall? I could fix thin batons to the struts for coat hooks and it would effectively make it a wider space....(about 10% - would add about 9cm onto current 92cm)

I would just roughly sand the struts and paint ...

So does this sound really stupid? Am I missing an obvious problem with having a single plasterboard sheet as the wall?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

So you want to remove the plasterboard from one side of an under-stairs cupboard, to widen and increase space in that area?
I don't see why not.
How wide is the the stud-work?
You could be think of reducing the stud-work size and still have two sides boarded!

 

[big-all]

my thoughts are would be are you reducing the distance[thickness] fully within your property
or another flat or property within the building [multiple occupancy ]

 

[Lusi83]

So you want to remove the plasterboard from one side of an under-stairs cupboard, to widen and increase space in that area?

Yes that's right - it is about 9cm wide...and if i can get hooks almost flush with the plasterboard it will just give me a bit more walk though space.... replacing the struts seems like a big job...

It is completely within my house...not communal

What I am worried about is that the 2 layer plasterboard is stronger and it is acting as some kind of support? Walls on the outer edges are both brick...

Also from a fire/safety point of view ....

Here are some photos...

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• Lusi83
• 19 Jan 2012
• 2

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• Lusi83
• 19 Jan 2012
• 2

inside cupboard showing where the internal cupboard with doors was ...horizontal (vertical in this pic!) is joist support of half landing

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• Lusi83
• 19 Jan 2012
• 1

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If it's only plasterboard it wont be structural.

 

[Lusi83]

I thought so -but because of it being part of the stairs I thought I better check...

I'll go for it ....

(seems odd when they built the house they boxed it in the way they did...but then the rest of house seems a bit of a weird design too -eg small back gardens, much bigger front gardens (no vehicle access and you can't see half of it - would have made more sense to build the whole row 3 m further forward! Early 70s design for you!)

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Although some stud partitions can be structural, I don't think this is a factor in your case.
With a little extra work you could still have a flat wall surface, after removal of the plasterboards. You could insert fixing timbers within the hollow stud, recessed by 12mm/12.5mm/18mm then fix either 12mm/18mm ply or even 12.5mm plasterboard panels within these sections. You will still have your existing timber stud work visible. But have a flat wall surface without having to remove the existing stud work. A lick of paint and may look a little more aesthetically pleasing. Plus will stop accidental damage from within the understairs area, to the one skin of plasterboard you have. Could do it with both internal sides of the cupboard if you really needed the extra space.