How to tell if a wall is a supporting wall.

plloydie

plloydie

Messages
1,033
Name
Paul
Edit My Images
Yes
I would like to knock down a wall that is dividing the kitchen & dining room to make as one. The wall in question is timber studding with plaster board.as is every wall in the house. Many years ago I had this thought but put it on the back burner but now with more time on my hands im thinking of going ahead with it. When I first had the idea my neighbours were having some work done on their house and I asked one of the builders if the wall was a supporting wall, he said none of the walls in my house are supporting and they could all be removed. The wall on the first floor that runs parallel with the dining room wall is offset by several feet so It's certainly not holding that wall up. I don't want to get a builder in for advice as I wouldn't be using them. Hope this question makes sense.
 
I wouldn't knock down a wall unless a surveyor had checked it and given written advice.

It's also possible that if you don't get professional advice and things go wrong, you'll have invalidated any insurance cover.
 
Last edited:
Ask a surveyor
 
it might not technically be a supporting wall but it might be helping with the upstairs loading , removing it without putting some support in it might make the upstairs very bouncy. I have this myself one of our upstairs rooms above the kitchen is very large 6m x 7m and is very bouncy ,
 
Thanks for the replies. I'll look at getting a sureyor. Our living room run the length of the house 21ft x 17ft with no other walls to divide it. the kitchen/dining room is exactly the same size bar the wall dividing the two rooms. There is a staircase seperating the livingroom/ kitchen diner. but advice taken, I'll seek proffesional advice.
 
If you can lift the floorboards directly above the wall in question and get a look at the joists you can tell if it’s a supporting wall fairly easily. If the floor joists are going at 90 degrees to the wall and/or resting on it, it’s most likely a supporting wall. If the joists are running parallel with the wall then it probably isn’t. If you’re not 100% sure though, get a professional in to check before you start any work.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply. The joists run at 90' to the wall. I found that out when having central heating installed. The other side of the staircase (livingroom) the joist run at 90' to those, a 21ft run with no supporting wall. I'm going to get professional advice though as I have no intention for the two bedrooms joining the kitchen/dining room.
 
There could still be supporting wooden beams or RSJ’s somewhere in the joist space. A 21 foot unsupported ceiling seems a very long run to me, but then I’m not a surveyor and don’t know the technicalities. We’ve got a similar length living room but there are two RSJ’s running across ours.

We did the same job as you by the way, knocked the kitchen wall through to make a kitchen-diner last year. We had three builders round to quote. Two wanted to put an RSJ in but the one we actually used spotted that the joists were running parallel with the wall so it wasn’t supporting anything. He reckoned that saved us around £2k in the price of steel and labour. The house hasn’t fallen down either :)
 
Last edited:
I doubt the original house builder would put in joists strong enough to support some one else removing the wall later on if it costs him more money, accountants rule especially with recent builds. Get a surveyor in, even if you pay a cowboy builder to do the job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top