Load Bearing or not...???

[Bloosman]

We live in an old, stone built cottage of one and a half storeys, with 2 x bedrooms and a bathroom situated in what is basically the roof space.

The joists holding up the roof run from the front to the back of the building, a simple rectangle.

On the ground floor, there is a lounge to one end, running the width of the house, which accesses a small square room.

The wall adjoining these rooms (half the width of the house) is of timber and plaster construction, and runs in the same direction of the joists.

Would this wall be load bearing in any way, and if not, is there a possibility of taking it down in order to enlarge the lounge...?

I appreciate this may not be an easy query without plans, but just wondered if anyone could hazard a guess...

 

[^woody^]

You will get two guesses - it is or it's not. Take your pick.

But you (or someone else locally) really needs to check it.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Your first floor floorboards will run at right angles to the downstairs ceiling joists. So do they run into this wall? or are they parallel to it? One unknown is that if the layout has been tampered with since the house was built, there could be all sorts of trimmers hidden within the ceiling void.
Frank

 

[Bloosman]

Thanks for that...getting a builder in to have a look....

Upstairs flooring runs at right angles to the joists, and the portion of wall I'm wanting to open up (about 7 feet in length), runs in the same direction as the joists....

However, the addition of dormers etc. to the first floor, and your cautionary words has made me reconsider and I'm now going to get a professional in to check.