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- 1 Nov 2021
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Right lads, belt up,
I am renovating a 1957 brick cavity wall-built bungalow an am planning to remove the wall between the kitchen and lounge as one of my first jobs. I had designed a beam to span the opening on the basis that the ceiling joists coloured pink in the attached plan would be supported by said wall, leaving a buttress / nib to support the bearing at the rear elevation.
It transpires however, that on further investigation, the wall in question which I had assumed to be constructed from load-bearing clay bricks - as the external walls and load-bearing wall between the front bedroom and lounge are - is actually built from 3" clinker block. (Yes, the awful black stuff that you can push a screwdriver through if you possess wrists stronger than those of a new-born child). Has anyone seen this used in a structural application before?
On closer inspection, it turns out that there is also plasterboard between the underside of the ceiling joists and the top of the clinker block wall. Therefore, the ceiling must have been finished prior to erecting the wall - correct? The pink ceiling joists are secured to double joists (furthest right joists on the ceiling framing plan) that run from the internal structural wall, to the front and rear elevation, by nailing left-to-right through the double joists and into the end grain of the pink joists. By pulling away some of the bits of plasterboard, there is clearly a gap between the underside of the joists and the top of the clinker wall.
So finally I'll get to the point. All of the above leads to me believing that the kitchen wall is merely a partition and is not supporting the pink ceiling joists at all. Were this not my house, I'm sure I'd be telling someone else that this was the case and to go ahead and smash the s**t out of it and get it gone. But it is, and my a*se has gone. So can someone please give me their thoughts on this? Have you seen this joist layout before, and do you concur that the clinker wall is not supporting the ceiling joists.
Photos and Plan attached.
Cheers, Spaceworm
I am renovating a 1957 brick cavity wall-built bungalow an am planning to remove the wall between the kitchen and lounge as one of my first jobs. I had designed a beam to span the opening on the basis that the ceiling joists coloured pink in the attached plan would be supported by said wall, leaving a buttress / nib to support the bearing at the rear elevation.
It transpires however, that on further investigation, the wall in question which I had assumed to be constructed from load-bearing clay bricks - as the external walls and load-bearing wall between the front bedroom and lounge are - is actually built from 3" clinker block. (Yes, the awful black stuff that you can push a screwdriver through if you possess wrists stronger than those of a new-born child). Has anyone seen this used in a structural application before?
On closer inspection, it turns out that there is also plasterboard between the underside of the ceiling joists and the top of the clinker block wall. Therefore, the ceiling must have been finished prior to erecting the wall - correct? The pink ceiling joists are secured to double joists (furthest right joists on the ceiling framing plan) that run from the internal structural wall, to the front and rear elevation, by nailing left-to-right through the double joists and into the end grain of the pink joists. By pulling away some of the bits of plasterboard, there is clearly a gap between the underside of the joists and the top of the clinker wall.
So finally I'll get to the point. All of the above leads to me believing that the kitchen wall is merely a partition and is not supporting the pink ceiling joists at all. Were this not my house, I'm sure I'd be telling someone else that this was the case and to go ahead and smash the s**t out of it and get it gone. But it is, and my a*se has gone. So can someone please give me their thoughts on this? Have you seen this joist layout before, and do you concur that the clinker wall is not supporting the ceiling joists.
Photos and Plan attached.
Cheers, Spaceworm
