Removing a non load bearing wall?

Joined
14 Sep 2010
Messages
7,034
Reaction score
874
Location
Rochdale
Country
United Kingdom
My daughter wants a brick wall removed between the kitchen and living room.

There is a wall upstairs but one isn’t ontop of the other, it’s about 600mm away parallel.

I lifted a floor board upstairs and the wall isn’t directly below a joist, it runs between 2 and just has the laths sat on it. It’s where this red line is:
E4563289-C048-4FE9-A899-54365219CE4C.jpeg


Could this wall be giving the house some support more that what the floor joists give it?
 
Sponsored Links
this used to be common where the bathroom was on top of the kitchen but not the same size.

I think you may find the joists it stands on rely on the wall beneath for support.

Lift the floorboards and have a good look to see if any of them have been overlapped from shorter timbers.

Apart from the wooden wallplate, is the upstairs wall made of wooden studwork, or is it brick or block?
 
now I look again, I see I was wrong about the joists, as they are parallel with the wall upstairs.

The wall is just on floorboards? Or is there a joist under it?
 
I couldn’t get in the loft to see the top of that wall, it’s wood at the bottom and feels like brick on top of that. I’m going to put a double back box on the wall tomorow so will be opening the plaster.

I can see down between the joists, above the downstairs wall, and there are herringbone type noggins between them but no full size timbers.
BE50CD45-CDA3-4DD9-BBCE-976A8D13D1DF.jpeg
 
Sponsored Links
now I look again, I see I was wrong about the joists, as they are parallel with the wall upstairs.

The wall is just on floorboards? Or is there a joist under it?
The upstairs wall is built off a timber that touches a joist but it’s not directly on it.

The downstairs wall that she want to get rid of, I assume it’s on a foundation. The living room floor is timber and the kitchen concrete.
 
I hate walls built off floorboards. You only need a plumber with his chainsaw to hack a few up, and the wall is supported by air.

Find out what the upstairs wall is made of, and some of the pro builders will know better.

If it is studwork and L&P it will not be very heavy.
 
The wall upstairs is made of those hollow terracotta things that I would call cinderblocks and it’s just built up off the floorboards with about 10mm overlapping a joist below.
4607B661-6CB5-4E4B-B73F-F10061B18828.jpeg


70EC0B7C-FD23-460C-B1E1-63A9626DFFC8.jpeg
 
The downstairs wall doesn’t even reach the ceiling :confused:
2F47E14D-33D9-4076-B983-0D31326BF348.jpeg


87F26403-4E01-45B9-807D-F17C5F047C40.jpeg
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top