Solid half brick internal wall on joists

[kolt]

Hi All,

Started work on ground floor room and when opened ceiling realised that there is a solid half brick (about 140-150mm thick) wall standing across 6 joists with no support from below. Those are old joists 7 inch by 2.5 inch and distance of 350mm between centres with span of 4.5 meters.
Wondered if anyone can advise if that is normal practice or I should look into adding some joists or beam to support underneath?

 

[bobasd]

is the wall you are removing in parallel with the 7" old joists?
how far away from the half brick wall is the wall you propose to remove?

posting pics would help - you could always annotate your pics ref concealed items?

 

[kolt]

The wall on top of joists is perpendicular to joists themselves and goes across 5 or 6 of those (about 180cm long). I do not plan to remove anything, it seems that someone already removed ground floor section of that wall before I bought the house, leaving first floor wall to hang/stand on those joists.
All I am looking for is to understand if weight of that wall won't cause joists go bust over time.

 

[bobasd]

i do this work for a living and we would usually never leave a brick wall, like you describe, unsupported.
however -
how close to the nearest bearing end is this wall?
what, if anything, is it supporting?
how long has it been like that?
any signs of sagging, out of level or cracks?
what else is being supported by those joists in that upper room - eg a bathtub?

 

[kolt]

the nearest end in the wall is 1.4-1.5 meters away.
loft joists go on top of that wall, but looks like roof is not sitting on those (has separate set of joists).
bathtub is on those joists, but behind the next wall (one 1.4m away)
So it looks like it is that brick wall and some heavy ikea furniture next to it

 

[^woody^]

How long has it been up 40, 50, 60, 70 years? What makes you think it will suddenly fall down?

Yes it's normal. No it don't need changing.

 

[kolt]

Thanks ^woody^. It's just when looking at the abuse those joists went through the years by plumbers and electricians, the only thought I have is, how the hack it is still holding Though admittedly, I have zero experience or understanding on the matter

 

[^woody^]

Old timber is a lot stronger than today's fast grown stuff, and 350mm centres makes the floor quite strong in any case.