brick larder cupboard in the kitchen (under stairs)

[DarrenThomas]

The house i am trying to buy was built in 1955 by the local authority, concrete floor 3 bed semi.

In the 10ft square kitchen there are currently 3 doors, a window and this larder cupboard which takes up one corner of the room. We want to remove it so that we can put a fridge there.

Directly above the cupboard are the stairs and i'm wondering how they are supported. Is this brick built cupboard goning to be supporting them meaning that we cant remove it?

 

[cmother1]

Impossible to say without pictures/diagrams (& possibly pulling up a few floorboards).

Try knocking on the doors of a few of your prospective neighbours and seeing what they've done about it. If you're finding it an inconvenience chances are some of them have already been down the same road. This is a major purchase you're making so don't be shy!

 

[vv2806]

I would guess that wall supports the staircase. The description is exactly like my kitchen and so is the age of the house. I am going to use it as a pantry, what originally it is, put more shelves and keep there a lot of staff. The design of the kitchen is to have a built-in fringe under the worktop and I'll put another fridge-freezer in the extension.

If your neighbours had their wall removed, asked them if they removed it after consultation with a structural engineer. People sometimes do things that are far from perfect without realising it. My neighbours were going to permanently block the access to their consumer unit, for example, they just didn't know it was there.

 

[DarrenThomas]

Thanks for the replies. Once i get a day off i'll try and got down and knock on some doors.

If the wall IS supporting the stairs, is there anything that can be done to change that? or are these things set in stone?

EDIT: i found this link from Hinkley and Bosworth borough council which is keeping my dream alive for the moment lol.

http://www.hinckley-bosworth.gov.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=19123

The council, as part of its commitment to improve council properties has a kitchen improvement project. This involves, in consultation with the tenant, designing a new kitchen layout. Where possible, an attempt is made to make the kitchen larger by the removal of any brick pantry or larder area.

The image below shows a kitchen once the pantry has been removed but this staircase really extends into the kitchen more than ours does. The staircase is i think complete by the time it reaches the kitchen. Directly above the panty is a landing which then turns left up another step to the main landing for the 1st floor. Wish i had taken some piccies of that area now!!

 

[CompleteDisaster]

All,

For what its worth, I have just completed on a 1955 3 bed council built Semi.

The kitchen also has a larder in the corner adjoining the neighbors house.

I have had it confirmed that it is not load bearing and have taken it down today using a lump hammer to get the first few top rows of brickwork out then using a 5kg sledge hammer to finish it off.

The only thing I had to be careful of was the 5" thick concrete shelf. To remove this I took the brickwork out to the same level then used the bricks under the shelf to support it, then hire an industrial slab cutter to cut round the edges as best as possible, then tidy the edges as required. The concrete shelf had some sort of metal re-enforcement in it which made it a nighmare to cut.

As mentioned previously, everybodys circumstance is different so seek the assistance of an expert to confirm that the wall is NOT load bearing and work from the top down if you choose to remove a larder yourself.