Construction query

[Bob49]

Hello,

In my house I have an internal (middle) load bearing wall as follows:

1) 4m in length then a dog legged 0.8m offset and then another 3.7m in length, basically the length of the house from front to back.

2) Single 4" brick from foundations to roof.

3) Extends into roof and supports the middle of the roof purlins.

4) Upstairs the wall is "buttressed" in 4 places by dividing walls.

5) Downstairs wall is not "buttressed" as one side is main living room and is one big room, other side is hall/kitchen with the divider at the same place as the wall offset. So no downstairs lateral support.

6) Joists built into wall not on hangers.

Constructed like this 60 years ago, can't see any problems.

But why does this work?

What stops the middle of the downstairs parts of the two sections of wall from bowing out for example?

Been thinking about this all day! What a sad creature I am!


Bob

 

[^woody^]

Before my head spins off into the night like a gyroscope on spice, I'll just say that internal walls in houses don't give any lateral support to anything.

 

[Bob49]

Hi Woody, that's not what I meant, downstairs there are no other walls abutting the wall in question.

 

[^woody^]

I'm still none the wiser.

 

[tony1851]

I'll just say that internal walls in houses don't give any lateral support to anything.

I don't believe I just read that!!!!!!
Could you PM me the number of your dealer?

 

[^woody^]

I don't believe I just read that!!!!!!
Could you PM me the number of your dealer?

Here you go 0800-BS 5628

 

[tony1851]

Here you go 0800-BS 5628

Sorry, I'll ring tomorrow - I've just not got over the shock of what I read.

I think I'm seeing things........

 

[Leofric]

Difficult to understand the internal layout of a house when described in words, would be easier to understand plans
ps buttressing/lateral support

 

[Habitatdiy]

Consult someone expert rather than posting in this forum. You will actually save money and loss. Even if you may have to spent little bit, thats fine because your work would be solid!

 

[tony1851]

@op; the floor joists will be spanning from the internal wall onto the outer wall. They will provide lateral restraint to the outer wall.

 

[tony1851]

Consult someone expert rather than posting in this forum. You will actually save money and loss. Even if you may have to spent little bit, thats fine because your work would be solid!

Eh?

 

[^woody^]

@op; the floor joists will be spanning from the internal wall onto the outer wall. They will provide lateral restraint to the outer wall.

You've phoned that number I gave you then, by the looks of things.

 

[tony1851]

You've phoned that number I gave you then, by the looks of things.

I don't need to.
Presumably there will be a chimney which will stiffen the wall.

 

[John D v2.0]

A lot of things will stay up even though a structural engineer wouldn't be able to prove it on a new build.
Although having said that a 4 inch wall should be pretty stable for one storey, in our house the structural engineer was concerned about 2 inch walls buckling after the chimney was removed but they had ended up completely unrestrained at one end of each.

 

[Bob49]

Hello,

I've attached two images, one of the wall (in red) downstairs and one of the wall (again in red) upstairs.

So downstairs there is nothing abutting the wall, it is one long wall with an offset and two doors. The longer section is about 4.2m, the shorter about 3.45m.

Upstairs the wall is abutted in a few places.

So why is this wall stable? Surly some downstairs abutments are also needed?


Thanks,

Bob