Weight of brick wall on Joist - Im concerned

[Smath22]

Background: We have removed a downstairs wall from our 1970 detached house, It was a brick wall, above it there was nothing and you could see the top of the wall when lifting the floor board. there is however an upstairs bedroom wall also built of brick directly adjacent to in that sits onto two joists that have been bolted together.

Both our builder, B\C and a structural engineer all said it was fine to remove the downstairs wall as it was not load bearing, all floor joists run in parallel to this wall, and the weight of the above wall is carry by the joists.

Hopefully the pics explain it a little better.

It has been just over 4 weeks since we removed the wall, and I have noticed the bedroom door on the wall above does not close properly any more, and the hinged side has drop about 5-10mm, and a small crack is starting to appear above the door. above the door is hollow.

I am worried that the joists are not supporting the weight of the wall above, there are other bedroom walls in the house built onto joists, then actually floorboards then the wall, and they have never had walls beneath them at all.

Am i going to need to strengthen the joist, or is this just a bit of natural settling?

Any help greatly appreciated

Thanks

Adrian

Crack above door

• Smath22
• 5 Sep 2013
• 1

Top of Old Wall

• Smath22
• 5 Sep 2013
• 1

Joist upstairs wall sits on.

• Smath22
• 5 Sep 2013
• 1

[/img]

 

[dann09]

Its difficult to understand the lay-out of walls and joists from your post - eg. why wasn't the ground floor wall designed to support the bedroom wall?

Do the bolted chamber joists run parallel with the recently removed ground floor wall, as pic 3 seems to indicate?
Is pic 3 taken in a doorway? If not, where is the wall?

What am i looking at in pic 2?

Are you certain that no joist was directly, or indirectly, supported by the recent wall?

Do all the joists, including the bolt-ons, run in continuous lengths from bearing to bearing?

Perhaps, a visit to the loft to see if you can see (& pic) anything suspicious above the bedroom wall?

Do you have roof trusses?

 

[^woody^]

If the wall had nothing resting on it then movement of the wall above was not due to any structural support which the removed wall may have provided.

However the removed wall may have been giving lateral support to the side house walls, and removal may have caused some flexing of those walls, and therefore the upper floor wall

Or, by removing the wall you have disturbed the equilibrium of heat and humidity created by the two rooms, and it is different now with just one room. This could cause the timber beam to flex slightly as its moisture content changes

Lack of noggins between the joists can also cause this

 

[Smath22]

Sorry for the late response.

Its difficult to understand the lay-out of walls and joists from your post - eg. why wasn't the ground floor wall designed to support the bedroom wall?

The floor joist all run parrallel to the remove wall and are supported on the front and back walls of the house, and a middle wall downstairs.

Do the bolted chamber joists run parallel with the recently removed ground floor wall, as pic 3 seems to indicate? Yes they do
Is pic 3 taken in a doorway? If not, where is the wall? Yes this was in the doorway
What am i looking at in pic 2?
Are you certain that no joist was directly, or indirectly, supported by the recent wall? I took advice from a structural engineer, and BC were happy it was safe to remove, other houses in the street have removed this wall as well.
Do all the joists, including the bolt-ons, run in continuous lengths from bearing to bearing?

Perhaps, a visit to the loft to see if you can see (& pic) anything suspicious above the bedroom wall?
good idea will try and go up tonight

Do you have roof trusses?

Not sure ??

 

[Smath22]

There has been a little more movement since my original post. but not a lot. maybe 1-2mm if i was to jack/prop the joist from below back up in line, how would i go about strengthing or supporting it to prevent this sagging again ?

My main concern is will it continue, and that the door is out of alignment now.

I sought advice from the same Structural enginerr and he has said that some settlement of the joist is to be expected, as the wall below may have provided some lateral support, and it is perfectly safe.

 

[joe-90]

Listen to Woody. Ignore Danny-boy, he's a waste of space.

 

[Smath22]

Listen to Woody. Ignore Danny-boy, he's a waste of space.

Ok thanks. Is there anything I can do to reverse it. Or am going to have to do something with the door frames to square them again?