What's the procedure for identifying whether wall is load bearing?

[Mr Sparkle]

I have a tiny wall in my kitchen, which i want to take down as part of renovation works...

The wall looks like it was built as more of a partition as opposed to being load bearing

Is the right thing to do, to call a structural engineer to quote me on this? Will this be a couple hours work for the engineer (inc report?)

Or should I just call a local builder and pay him to give you his take on whether it's load bear or not?

If it is not load bearing, I plan on taking the wall down myself.

It is not the greatest pics, but here is an image below.. The wall is about as wide as an internal door

 

[JP_]

Is it a solid wall? Removing the socket back box will reveal something ... brick or a void. what is above the wall, more house or loft?

 

[Mr Sparkle]

Is it a solid wall? Removing the socket back box will reveal something ... brick or a void. what is above the wall, more house or loft?

I will double check all of the details when I get back to the property, however of the top of my head

-It is a solid wall
-Brick construction
-Above the wall the 1st floor where the bedrooms and toilets are

 

[JP_]

well, possible it is continued upwards then - that's how they built houses in the old days isn't it, solid walls all the way up, same floorplan (more or less) on both floors?
Find out what is immediately above before calling an engineer.

 

[EddieM]

Which way do the 1st storey floorboards run? If parallel to the wall, then a good chance it's load bearing, no guarantees though. If perpendicular, then good chance it's not, again, no guarantees.

 

[Keithmac]

Make sure you haven't got an RSJ on top of it!.

We have a little wall similar to that, previous owners knocked through from living room to kitchen and that wall is the support for the RSJ.

 

[Notch7]

Investigate it carefully!

Last year I got some guys taking down some walls -structural engineer had done a site visit and provided drawings.

Anyway we started knocking down a short wall that formed a cupboard side, it turned out there was a steel on top, that supported a block wall upstairs.

The steel stopped short of a spine wall by 12 inches so it was quite easy to extend it.

Im just saying, dont assume anything -expose the top of the wall before going for it

 

[^woody^]

The procedure is ...... see what's resting on the top of it.

 

[bernardgreen]

It may be a buttress wall, not necessarily a load bearing wall but there to prevent the wall to which it is attached from moving ( toppling ) sideways

 

[Leofric]

First of all internal partition walls can be loadbearing or non loadbearing. Nobody on here can say which it is from the information available. Even if it is brickwork or blockwork it might not be loadbearing but as pointed out above it could provide buttressing to another wall. A structural engineer would probably also require a builder to expose the top of the wall.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

I called many structural engineers to identify whether the wall is load bearing or not...and they were all less than helpful

I called a guy from mybuilder (he's the owner of a construction company ) and he took a look at the wall. He then ran upstairs and said that the wall is supporting nothing and thus it is not load bearing. He didn't open up the ceiling or plaster

He said that he could demolish and clear for £500 cash or £600 (VAT). Wall measures 2.3m Height, 11cm Width, 48cm depth

He's keen to get cracking but what i want to know what documentation should I obtain from him (if anything) in order to cover myself?

i.e. should i get a letter stating that the wall is not load bearing?

 

[^woody^]

Yeah get a letter ..... with his liability insurance details. And a £300 discount.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

thanks @^woody^

i think that asking for demolishment and clearance at £200+ VAT is pushing it in London. But if you don't ask, you don't get

also the guy said that they can make good for any extra £100.

i've never done a wall demolishment, so should i expect the ceiling, walls and floors to look like a car crash? is it worth asking them to just make good? The guy warned that if he plasters the affected ceiling, it may not match the surrounding and he said that he'd fill the concrete floor to bring it level

 

[Mr Sparkle]

also out of curiosity, could i just use a 9" grinder to get this down?

 

[^woody^]

also out of curiosity, could i just use a 9" grinder to get this down?

The dust will go everywhere.

That knib will be snapped off with a 4" bolster chisel in 30 minutes. Clean, dust free and simple. Bang the line down the wall, then break the bricks out. There should not be much disturbance or making good.