removing non load baring wall

[virgilns]

Hello all.

I'm looking at removing a non load baring wall in my house, typical 4 box affair downstairs (kitchen on the left at the back and lounge on the right at the back) joists run front to back.

The upstairs has three rooms at the back, with one dividing wall above the kitchen and one above the lounge. when I look under the floorboard I can just see the lathes meeting where the ground floor wall will be, therfore baring no load.

I know when removing a load baring wall and supporting above with an RSJ yuo need to leave at least 200mm piller for the steel to rest on, but I'd like to remove it all the way from front to back leaving no pillars. is this possible. It obviously removes some latteral support for both the rear wall and centre cross wall...

Would liek to gain some indication on here to see if i need to get in a structural engineer...

Thanks,

Virgil..

 

[noseall]

Partition walls do not require anything more than common sense and a big hammer.

Things to look out for are thickness of wall and the presence of any foundations.

If your wall is only 75mm thick (measure a casing if there is one) and it is only say 100mm wide then the wall is only 3" partition block walling.

If the bricks are full size 105mm fellas and they appear to go down below floor concrete level, then be cautious.

 

[tony1851]

You mention ceiling laths, so presumably it's an older (pre-War) house?

If so, you still need to be careful even if the partition appears to be non-loadbearing. We have a similar situation to you, where the floor joists run parallel to the upstairs partition; this is a brick-on-edge partition supported off double joists. But in the roof space, it happens to support a purlin prop, so check in your loft first.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

Your ceiling joists do run parallel to the about to be removed wall?.
Frank

 

[virgilns]

Your ceiling joists do run parallel to the about to be removed wall?.
Frank

Hi…yes. ceiling joists run parallel to wall…and the joint in the lathes are bang in the middle of two joists. the only thing touching the ground floor wall are the bricks bellow it, the lathes above it and where it ties in to the walls at the back of the house and the centre.

the only thing it's holding 'up' are the ends of the lathes and 1/8" of dust…

my only concern was with it being the tie between the centre house wall and rear awl of the house.

It's a 1920's ish victorian jobbie.

I read Part A approved doc and it says max floor space for a three sided load baring walled structure is 35m2 and double that for a 4 sided structure…so in theory I could even take the rear wall out for sliding doors and still be in safe building reg zone. the front to back joists tie the rear wall to the centre wall, so really can't see any issues. Should be a nice easy one for building inspector??

 

[virgilns]

You mention ceiling laths, so presumably it's an older (pre-War) house?

If so, you still need to be careful even if the partition appears to be non-loadbearing. We have a similar situation to you, where the floor joists run parallel to the upstairs partition; this is a brick-on-edge partition supported off double joists. But in the roof space, it happens to support a purlin prop, so check in your loft first.

Yeah, 1920's ish…

not sure what you mean by check the loft first…two rooms on ground floor, say 3m and 3m widths. three rooms upstairs 1.5m, 2.25m and 2.25m so the ground floor wall is nowhere near the first floor walls. If they are supporting a purlin then the weight is vein taken by their support which may well be a double joist as you say...

 

[virgilns]

Partition walls do not require anything more than common sense and a big hammer.

Things to look out for are thickness of wall and the presence of any foundations.

If your wall is only 75mm thick (measure a casing if there is one) and it is only say 100mm wide then the wall is only 3" partition block walling.

If the bricks are full size 105mm fellas and they appear to go down below floor concrete level, then be cautious.

I'm 110% its not holding anything up and yes looking forward to the big hammer bit. but tis really only the bracing issue i was slightly concerned about…

to be honest when i say it's 'my house' it's actually my brother in laws, but as he's been my labourer for so much work on mine it time i returned the favour. he moves moves in next month and we're dong all the demo work before he moves his furniture and stuff in, so it's going to be lots of messy fun!