Load bearing or not?

[elrick88]

Hi all,

Thinking of taking down a lath and plaster wall next to the staircase to allow more light in.

Should I get a structural engineer in to check?

Attached is some (very) rough plans of the house. There is no support under the offending wall but unsure if this will effect the wall under the box gutter.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jeds]

It's impossible to say in that age of house. There were far fewer rules and conventions than there are now and people made things up as they went along. Just being a partition wall doesn't mean it isn't load bearing. Is it visible/accessible from above? Otherwise you may have to open up some holes in the lath/plaster and see what's there?

 

[elrick88]

Hi Jeds.

Hacked a small hole in the lath and plaster and it's stud work behind. Nothing above in the loft and looks like the ceiling lath continues straight with no interruption (probs nailed.into the ceiling joists.
Below that wall is the handrail of the staircase so it's not supported by anything (as far as I can tell)

Cheers

Andrew

 

[jeds]

Sounds like you could crack on and remove. Go carefully, revealing as you go, and be prepared to stop if you find anything odd.

PS. being a stud wall doesn't necessarily mean it isn't load bearing. Look out for double or triple studs or an A frame.

 

[John D v2.0]

There's a youtube video that calculated that a cheap 63x38 CLS stud wall could hold something like 350kg on each stud without buckling, which makes sense but does make you think it could be mid span across a floor with 10 by 2 joists across 10m span (if you could get the length) and it would all check out fine - but woe betide anyone who knocked the simple stud wall out!

 

[elrick88]

Started removing the lath and plaster and faced with this. I assume this is the A frame you mentioned Jeds?

 

[robinbanks]

See where it goes; the lath and plaster isn't structural so it can be removed to give a better overall vis

 

[elrick88]

Cheers robinbanks. I've half a mind to leave all the timbers up anyway to make a kind of gallery with a banister running between them.
But just wanted to see.
Gutted we had to take the wall down but means we get light upstairs at last.

 

[elrick88]

Continuing up at the moment. Maybe used instead of nogs?

 

[elrick88]

Matches on the far end of the wall.

 

[jeds]

It's a load bearing point, there's no other reason to build an A frame. Do as Robin suggested; strip off the lath and get a better look at exactly what is being supported? You'll then need to work out an alternative support.

 

[RandomGrinch]

It's a load bearing point, there's no other reason to build an A frame.

I'm not saying it isn't load bearing, but is there a possibility that it's just the way Victorians did things?

I have a similar structure in a wall that is definitely not load bearing...

 

[elrick88]

Cheers guys. This is how it's looking at the moment. To be honest I quite like the bare bones look
Going to de nail it, fill the nail holes, sand and gloss then put the banister into the frame. Saves having to think of something else to do. Plus meets the wife's objective of letting in more light!

 

[robinbanks]

Sheet glass balustrade mounted over (or smaller panels between) too? Protection from falling regs; no gaps larger than 100 mm

I have a similar structure in a wall that is definitely not load bearing...

Inhibits racking, which would wreck the L&P?

 

[stuart45]

google Trussed partitions. They can be used to take some of the loads from the floor under them. Were often used over the top of ballrooms in the larger houses. They can be load bearing without anything on top, or a wall underneath.

Trussed Partitions

It is very often necessary to construct a partition in some story of a building above the first and in such a position that there can be no support beneath it such as another partition. In this case t...

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