supporting walls

[TopTrumper]

Hello All,
I have a newish bellway home about 3 years old.
It is 3 bedrooms and a loft room, a high span roof.
I want to alter a few bedrooms and bathroom around a bit, all the walls on 1st floor are non supporting walls.

What i am enquiring is, do engineers ever take into account studded walls when designing a house like this?
I know there is not much support there, but if i was to take down all these walls and was just left with exterior walls, some support has gone hasnt it?
if that makes sense...

comments please, before i get out my claw hammer and start ripping out...

 

[Joe Malone]

If they're timber stud walls they'll won't serve any structural purpose whatsoever. Chances are that you'll have trussed rafters in the roof space which span wall to wall. Even in timber framed houses I can't think of an occasion when internal stud walls would be form an integral part of the structure.

 

[Shytalkz]

Careful, JM: they might not take vertical loads (in this instance, if as expected there are trusses), but they could be used for lateral restraint to the external walls.

If you want to gut the entire floor (unlikely), then you might have a problem. If you want to go messing around with the layout and move them around/form new openings etc, as long as there are roof trusses spanning between external walls, then you will be ok.

 

[Joe Malone]

but they could be used for lateral restraint to the external walls.

They could but isn't this highly unlikely?

Shy, I do like the fact that you're there to pick me up on my structural faux pas'

 

[Shytalkz]

No, it's very likely.

Isn't it fauxes pas?

 

[mikric]

As shytalkz says ,be carefull and never assume.
I can say that I for definite have encountered internal stud walls being designed and used in load bearing situations (joists) dont agree with it, but it does exist in some new build designs .

 

[Joe Malone]

Isn't it fauxes pas? [/quote]

Faux off!

 

[TopTrumper]

fellas,
thanks for your replies...
rang a desk jockey in bellway, he said you can do what you like with the walls....cheers all

 

[Shytalkz]

...internal stud walls being designed and used in load bearing situations (joists) dont agree with it...

Why not?

 

[jbonding]

Do not believe anyone at bellways, ive worked on plenty of them and i wouldnt start pulling floor boards up if youve got a heart condition
this proves my point "rang a desk jockey in bellway, he said you can do what you like with the walls"

 

[joe-90]

If you've ever been in one of these houses when it's being built you'll find the upper floor is like one big dance hall. All boarded out. Then they put the studs and doors in afterwards. It's a lot of effort to shift all the walls - why bother? Why buy it if you don't like the layout? When you come to sell you'll find you've devalued your property.

 

[^woody^]

I've not seen a mass produced noddy house from the Bellways/Wimpeys/Barratts of this world, where the stud walls upstairs or down do anything other than divide the rooms

 

[Shytalkz]

Do a calc on the gable wall and see how well it works without using them to buttress it...

 

[^woody^]

Don't the trusses and floor do than job with lateral straps?

When you consider that a few years ago when 50mm paramount partition was all the rage, then I can't see how they provided any buttressing.

 

[Shytalkz]

It's less problematic if it's stud inner leaf and masonry outer. Straps and trusses restain the panels at floor/ceiling levels, but if you put openings in there then it can't necessarily act in the way that is assumed and the ends are only restrained by the returns to the external walls. Robustness and progressive collapse are considerations under BRegs these days.