My Landlord has decided to refurbish the Kitchen & make it bigger by bringing it 1 MTR into the living room, by removing a breeze block wall & replacing it, with a stud wall. We are in a ground floor flat with 3 more flats above us, with concrete block ceilings that are wedged with bits of wood which were also used to hold the plasterboard ceiling up. The contractors state that as they are using 400 centres & 4" x 2" timbers , there is no need for noggins, not even to fit the kitchen cupboards or over the door & it is not a required standard any more. The PSE timbers actually measure out @ 3½" x 1¾" I am assuming he meant 400mm centres 20 odd years ago I was taught to use rough cut timber & place @ least 3 noggins for an 8ft height, staggered a few inches apart to aid fixing the noggins in place . Is the contractor correct & has the standards changed, or is he telling porkies, to cut corners ??
Could be his problem if the landlord takes down a breezeblock wall and the neighbour above ends up in his kitchen/living room.
WOW what a silly thing to say That is easy for you to say when your not the one paying the rent & your families lives are not @ potential RISK of INJURY or DEATH from negligence, Not to mention the upheaval if one & their family needs to move as a result of cowboy(s) Cheers chippy244 Is there a regulatory body that I can get & print the info off & give to my landlord ?? Cheers joinerjohn1 At least the contractor is using Acro's & the block wall does not appear to be load bearing from the holes they made in both sides of the ceiling to verify Can you please elaborate, why you have come to that conclusion ??
Noggins or no noggings will make little difference to the strength of the wall which will not be structural. If it is structural then that is a different thing.
What chippie means is , if the breezeblock wall is supporting any part of the block floor above (and is removed) the floor above might end up in your living room. (supporting wall means exactly that, it's supporting something, ie structural) If it's replaced with a wooden stud wall, then the stud wall might not be up to supporting what's above (and might still fall down) Don't want to worry you or anything, but I'm assuming your landlord has got proper structural drawings of the property and so knows whether this breezeblock wall is structural? If not then his decision to move it, could be in the lap of the gods.
If the wall that was removed was structural a structural engineer should have been called in to calculate the steel beam required and it's supports, if it's not structural then there's not a problem.
It does sound like they are guessing though by the use of acro's and inspection holes but a lack of noggins is still the least of your worries.
TBH They didn't have a clue, hence the holes in the ceiling to check, they did discuss the possibility of calling in a structural engineer to check & verify (didn't hear if the had consulted one though) even though they were nearly a week between making the inspection holes & putting the Acro's up. Guessing games & the lap of the gods is not my cup of tea tbh especially when it could potentially have disastrous circumstances. I will see how it goes as at least I will be around whilst they do the refurb
Personally I do not think it is structural from looking myself, as there is a gap of approx max of 5mm in places 2 - 3mm other places between the block wall & the ceiling (But I could be wrong) though
Have you tried looking into the flat above to see if there is a wall above yours. Also check the direction of the ceiling joists. If running in the same direction as the wall it should be ok. If at right angles, you need to check to see if the wall is supporting any joist joins. If your ceilings are concrete, (you say " with concrete block ceilings that are wedged with bits of wood which were also used to hold the plasterboard ceiling up."), there should be no problem. I would certainly fit noggins for the top cupboards to fix to. If there is a door going in, certainly noggin this for strength. While you're at it check for, self closing fire door with intumescent strips and fireline plasterboard.
Hi moppylhd All the flats above have the walls on top of the walls in the floor(s) below with a concrete floors inbetween, so no joists. I managed to have a word with the contractor, without the Landlord up his rear orriface, & he said he will be putting in noggings, but won't be telling the Landlord, since the Landlord wants to cut costs, but doesn't realise that the contractor has already factored it into the price I will check when I see him on Monday for the "self closing fire door with intumescent strips and fireline plasterboard" Is that a formal requirement or Regulation ??
Your landlord is trying to cut costs by not having noggins...? Bludy hell. They need taking out and having their nuts stapled to something not very nice. What is it about penny-pinching lardlords, eh? Jeeeeez...
Forums
Facebook
Twitter
You Tube
Instagram
Shop