Hi all,
I have a 1945 chalet bungalow that has a ground floor breeze block brick wall between WC and bathroom., 1.6metres in length and 2.4metres high.
The wall is running parellel with joists above. A joist above does sit on the wall, but not centrally at all, in fact only about half of it.
The plasterboard of the two rooms runs between the wall and the joists.
I have had a couple of builders say its not load bearing but I'm not yet in agreement with them. Reason being is that the brick wall is parallel with the edge of the stair case. The top of the stair case is about 1.5metres away but this wall could be supporting the load from the missing joists where the staircase is. The wall runs under the upstairs WC and there is also a dormar that juts out the side of the building not far from this area.
Furthermore, when fitting new boards to the kitchen ceiling the joists are not installed in any standard widths apart and some are thicker than others, making that job a rather long winded one! Just makes me think that even an experienced eye may get this wrong!
I have had an engineer out and he said it could be load bearing.
Therefore, whether it is or not - it's coming out and I will put a beam in there. Could get a builder in to do it, but given that none I have spoke to are actually sure about it being load bearing, I can get this done myself.
I can retain breeze block pillars either side of the gap but would like to know how to calculate the beam required. Do I actually need to inform building control about this?
I have a 1945 chalet bungalow that has a ground floor breeze block brick wall between WC and bathroom., 1.6metres in length and 2.4metres high.
The wall is running parellel with joists above. A joist above does sit on the wall, but not centrally at all, in fact only about half of it.
The plasterboard of the two rooms runs between the wall and the joists.
I have had a couple of builders say its not load bearing but I'm not yet in agreement with them. Reason being is that the brick wall is parallel with the edge of the stair case. The top of the stair case is about 1.5metres away but this wall could be supporting the load from the missing joists where the staircase is. The wall runs under the upstairs WC and there is also a dormar that juts out the side of the building not far from this area.
Furthermore, when fitting new boards to the kitchen ceiling the joists are not installed in any standard widths apart and some are thicker than others, making that job a rather long winded one! Just makes me think that even an experienced eye may get this wrong!
I have had an engineer out and he said it could be load bearing.
Therefore, whether it is or not - it's coming out and I will put a beam in there. Could get a builder in to do it, but given that none I have spoke to are actually sure about it being load bearing, I can get this done myself.
I can retain breeze block pillars either side of the gap but would like to know how to calculate the beam required. Do I actually need to inform building control about this?
