Hi all.. I'm about to ge r t builders in for some quotes so I wanted to know ahead of time if a wall I want removing is load bearing... It's downstairs between kith hen and dining room... Only has 2 joists that run opposite way to wall.. However... Never joist actually touches the wall I want removing... You can get a screwdriver between the joist and top of the wall.... Plus it's timber... I've included pics.. Any advice would be much appreciated
The simplest way to determine if a wall is load-bearing or not is to simply knock it down. Then if your house collapses, it was load-bearing and if it doesn't then it might not be.
Thanks for the reply.. There is a wall going the same way upstairs as the one downstairs.. However it isn't on top of the downstairs wall.. Upstairs room width |<2.5metres >| Downstairs room width |< 3 m e t r e s >| So the wall is around 50cm away on upstairs wall being that the room around 50cm smaller.
Thanks for the reply.. There is a wall going the same way upstairs as the one downstairs.. However it isn't on top of the downstairs wall.. Upstairs room width |<2.5metres >| Downstairs room width |< 3 m e t r e s >| So the wall is around 50cm away on upstairs wall being that the room around 50cm smaller.
A loadbearing wall, will either have a wall on top of it, or joists resting on it. The joists could be either at right angles or on top of it. Take up some floorboards and check with a torch.
You can also have the situation where settlement of a building occurs and a wall which was not intended to be load-bearing has become load-bearing because it is acting as a strut between 2 walls. I had a property once where the whole building had twisted slightly due to settlement. Edited to say that was just a "fun fact" that I had found out once and I'm pretty sure it isn't the situation here!
Can't see from the photos, does this wall have plasterboard going across the top of it i.e. can you see if the plasterboard was put up before the wall was built?