I'm currently refitting our bathroom, first DIY project, and taking my time to make sure everything goes to plan. The only major job I've got is to remove a bricked area that extends in to the bathroom from the area under the stairs.
The house is a 1930's build, the bathroom is L-shaped, situated at the rear of the house on the ground floor. An area of the cupboard underneath the stairs extends into the bathroom, about 1m high and about 0.5m x 0.7m in size. The floor of the
The wall above the gap that separates the bathroom and the understairs area has a 1m high gap at the base and a reinforced concrete lintel across the gap(about 0.2m x 0.2m).
On removing the 1m high wall in the bathroom (single brick thickness) and starting to hammer out the concrete top (about 65mm think, sitting in to the walls about a brick's depth), I've found that this a steel bar crossing the gap about half way through. There are also thin pieces of slate above and below the slab where it sits in the walls.
Now I'm worried that the reason that the weird understairs extension in to the bathroom is there for a very good reason, and why it's never been removed. Which was what I was hoping against.
If I remove this concrete block shelf (which sits just above the reinforced concrete lintel level under the stairs), brick in the area below the lintel, and brick in the gaps it's left in the walls, will the structure still be sound, or do I need to reinforce the gaps it's left in the walls with something more sturdy... or do I need to stop what I'm doing, replace the block and brick it back up?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated!
The house is a 1930's build, the bathroom is L-shaped, situated at the rear of the house on the ground floor. An area of the cupboard underneath the stairs extends into the bathroom, about 1m high and about 0.5m x 0.7m in size. The floor of the
The wall above the gap that separates the bathroom and the understairs area has a 1m high gap at the base and a reinforced concrete lintel across the gap(about 0.2m x 0.2m).
On removing the 1m high wall in the bathroom (single brick thickness) and starting to hammer out the concrete top (about 65mm think, sitting in to the walls about a brick's depth), I've found that this a steel bar crossing the gap about half way through. There are also thin pieces of slate above and below the slab where it sits in the walls.
Now I'm worried that the reason that the weird understairs extension in to the bathroom is there for a very good reason, and why it's never been removed. Which was what I was hoping against.
If I remove this concrete block shelf (which sits just above the reinforced concrete lintel level under the stairs), brick in the area below the lintel, and brick in the gaps it's left in the walls, will the structure still be sound, or do I need to reinforce the gaps it's left in the walls with something more sturdy... or do I need to stop what I'm doing, replace the block and brick it back up?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated!
