Hi All, Need some input from some with a little more experience. 60s house where we have a straight stairwell running inside along the front wall of the house by the front door. Last (and larger) step of the stairwell sits above the typical under stairs cupboard and you turn 90 degrees to the right to the landing. None of what I'm doing is going anywhere near the last step or the breezeblock walls that form the cupboard. I've been thinking about trying to open this up for a while and have humm'ed and ha'ed for easily 3 years. I understand the feedback in general about these sorts of projects and the structural concerns, hence the query. In a fit of quarantine boredom I cut a hole in the breezeblock wall under the stairs and built a rudimentary box for support. Although I wasn’t sure it was necessary. I've attached a number of pictures showing the stairwell and trying to get a view as to whether I might be able to remove all of the (single brick thickness) breezeblock. My concern is, as in the pictures you can see they've shaped the breezeblock partition wall under the stairs, and shoved in mortar in the gaps between the breezeblock and the stairs. I'm left wondering if that means they're making it structural. What confuses me is if you look at a number of the photos, there is a very slight gap evident between the wooden beam and the breeeblock...but sometimes that gap is sealed with mortar at least as you look at it from the inside of the stairwell. Also, the beam that would otherwise be supporting the stairs (ie if it wasn't for the breezeblock) is only an inch thick...I thought it might need to be thicker if it was carrying the structure of the stairs. Appreciate all feedback on this, thanks. Digittt
The quarter landing takes the thrust of the staircase, and it should be nailed to the main house wall to restrict it from movement. The mortar on the blocks and stair strings means nothing, and was put there just to gob the wall up and secure it once it had gone off. As long as the stairs and newel post is notched over the quarter landing securely and the quarter landing is fixed to the walls and joists tightly then you SHOULD be able to take the blocks out with no drama.
Many thanks that's assuring. The landing is supported by the breezeblock wall for the existing cupboard (ie it's directly above / on it). The landing's newel post sits on this as well. My instinct was what you had suggested, the mortar all over the stairs wasn't doing much, but I was clueless as to why they had bothered to put it there. Since the strip of wood they put on the outside covered any gap, the mortar on the inside didn't seem to have a purpose, other than possibly being structural. Anyway, here's looking forward to some demo tomorrow, many thanks!
The wife's just finished cleaning up all the dust from today...I'll wait a while before I give her the good news!