is this a supporting wall?

[ukal]

Hi,

We are looking to knock down a brick wall between our bathroom and toilet to make one room.

There is no wall beneath the wall to be removed and loft space above it. There is a joist that runs the length of the wall but offset (only approx 1cm of joist actual sits on the wall). This is the only wall that the joist runs parallel with.

Attached is a diagram I have done to show this.

Can anyone advise if this is a supporting wall and can it simply be removed without support? Or can anyone advise how I can tell?

many thanks

Untitled

• ukal
• 4 Jan 2013
• 1

 

[luisdesign]

You say there is no wall underneath this one, what is underneath it? What does this wall sit on? There may be a beam carrying this wall or maybe the wall is simply sitting on top of the existing floor joists / boards.

Also, is anything sitting on top of the wall? you said there is a joist offset from it, are there any other joists that span across it?

From what you are saying it doesn't sound like it is load bearing at all, but some more context and investigation could help confirm this.

 

[ukal]

thanks for getting back to me so quick.

nothing below it (the kitchen, but no walls etc), appears to be sitting on the floor boards which run perpendicular to it. It could possibly sitting on top of another paralell beam below it, but I wouldnt be able to tell would i unless I lift the boards next to the wall and take a peek? (cant see the beam from the kitchen).

Above it there appear no joists spanning it from above either.

What threw me is the joist that runs parallel ontop of it (although offset).

do you still think it is non supporting?

cheers

 

[luisdesign]

In small houses it's normally quite easy to identify load bearing walls but in larger more complex buildings it is not always as simple as it seems. Some house types may have no internal structural walls whilst in others all internal walls may be structural.

Usually, load bearing walls run perpendicular to the joist direction. Here, the ceiling and floor joists all run alongside the line of the wall meaning they are not breaking (loading) on it and presumably there is no roof structure sitting on this wall either.

Load bearing walls transfer a load from one point to another. If the wall has no load placed on it from above then there is no load bearing on it.

The fact that this wall is then built on top of the floor joists indicates that it is not transferring a load elsewhere either. Depending on the age of your house you'll probably find that there is nothing underneath the brick wall at all, and that yes, the brick wall was built right on top of the floorboards! Funny enough, you wouldn't be able to get away with this these days.


short answer. no.

but if you want to be absolutely sure (rather than have to explain to the wife that "some guy on the net told me" then you could head down to your local authority building control department. As a side note, the work you want to do will be notifiable)

 

[ukal]

As you say a supporting wall would be used to distribute load which I don't think it is with only an offset parallel hoist on top and nothing beneath.

It's odd how they built a brick wall on top of only floor boards back in the day?. Doesn't seem the safest of ideas these days. House was built early fifties.

Thanks again. I'll get it checked out to be sure.

 

[luisdesign]

yea, my own house is about the same period and features the same... you see it quite a bit in houses of a similar age.

 

[maltaron]

Most houses built in the 60's and 70's had all upstairs walls built of 3" breeze blocks. The door linings fitted floor to ceiling with a groove in the back for the blocks, and were fitted before the walls. Hence you often find a glazed panel over the door.