Open up under stairs

[niietzshe]

Hey all.
We’ve gone to the effort of moving the electrics on the other side of the partition wall and now want to open it up completely for storage (just an open space that can have mobility equipment rolled in).

Structurally there is a vertical divide between the two doors. It doesn’t seem to be weight bearing by my amateur eyes. There’s also two long beams running up the underside of the stairs. One isn’t supporting anything and is loose, but the stairs still feel solid.

My questions are, what can I do there?
# Is it safe for me to remove everything myself?
# Does it need any structural work done?
# Just fixing the beam?
# is the vertical divide Redundant?
# Should I just get a builder to do the work?

Thanks for any guidance, I have put it on my builder, but haven’t got any response yet. It’s probably not a job worth while to most builders.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Unfortunately, without seeing the inside of the cupboard it still isn't possible to say for certain thay you can take it all out. Odds are that it will be OK on that type of stairs, but can't say for sure. BTW the trade you want is "carpenter", ideally with either the appropriate City & Guilds qualification or alternatively an appropriate NVQ. "Builder" is a general term and can apply to a semi-skilled labourer to a highly skilled mason.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Ask around your neighbours.
I'll bet you're not the first person to want to do it in your area. Even if the guy next door hasn't, he might say "bob in the next street did it and the house fell down/ it looks great"
Assuming that your house is a clone of several in the area?

 

[niietzshe]

Thanks for both of your replies.
I actually went in there this morning to remove a few things that obviously weren’t structural, a bit of plaster board here, a loose bit of wood there. As I went I started realising what all the layers were and what was what. Less than an hour later I’d opened the whole thing up, none of it was supportive.

What I have left is still a question Id like the answers too if you have time.

If you look at the attached picture you can see I unearthed a vertical support structure, it was surrounded by wobbly wood, so didn’t feel sturdy but these are solid. It’s staying there I won’t touch it.

But you can see the diagonal beams that run up the underneath of the stairs. I was suprised to find they end at the vertical support, I’d have thought they ran all the way to the ground. Now the back one is solid, but the front one is loose and not doing anything.

Question is, can I remove at least the front one, or do they serve an important purpose and I should secure it. Obviously there’s the other runs of thick wood that the stairs are attached too, I’d have thought that’s all that’s needed.

Thanks again for any guidance.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Those diagonal battens beneath the stairs which run to the vertical battening look as though they were installed to carry some form of underdrawing beneath the stairs such as a plasterboard or hardboard sheet or the like. They aren't structural - the main structural components are the stringers which the treads and risers are housed into - and neither are the three short verticals they run to structural, either

 

[big-all]

just to add the wall at right angles with the room door in it may or may not help support the landing but as i dont think you planning on removing it it wont matter