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Renovating Dining Room Living Room

Can I knock out this wall?

last month

Hi there,

We’ve recently bought a house and want to open up the kitchen/living area to more open plan. Haven’t got the keys yet so can’t really know for sure so thought I’d ask on here if anyone could give advice based on the photos?

wanting to knock the wall out pictured here (between living and dining) but as the house is 2 storey we’re not sure if it’s possible ? Built in 1982, Obviously you can see there are some heavy duty beams which I assume would do most of the load bearing

- but does this wall seem load bearing too?

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Comments (5)

oklouise
last month
the wall is probably load bearing. .the beams in the living area have to be supported by something but you may be able to widen the doorway between living and kitchen but i would have a structural engineer design the new supports before committing
Kate
last month
If the beams go all the way through to the outside wall you may be lucky, but I would expect a support post given upper level seems to finish around that wall. Only way to tell is from plans or opening up a while in the wall to see if the posts are designed to load bear, You may be able to insert a beam to take the load to allow the opening to be widened or wall removed.
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We have already removed a wall. And although this advice isn’t about floors or ceilings, it’s still important. We strongly recommend obtaining advice from a professional engineer, or demanding evidence that your builder has (and insist it’s free of caveats like, “based on information provided by others”). Our builder removed a load bearing wall. He was supposed to get an engineer’s assessment. The cheapsake, cowboy, con artist didn’t do that. He deceived. He had a rough guess at the size of the beam. And he got it wrong. We asked for a copy of the engineer’s assessment. The builder lied about having one. Then finally admitted he guessed. He engaged an engineer. The assessment had caveats. We insisted it be caveat free. The engineers then had to inspect his work. They found the cowboy had lied to them too - and given false info about what was put in. His beam was under-dimensioned and not even braced to the house. The engineers gave the builder simple instructions to rectify his muck up. Three beams later, the idiot got it right. And the engineers could then approve the work. But remember, on paper they had already declared the under dimensioned beam was ok (but with a caveat). Moral of the story - insist on a site inspection by the engineer. Or, just like our roof could have, your roof might cave in! And probably not on top of the idiot builder who would deserve to be buried under it! Btw - hello John Z. Ears burning by any chance? There’s some good people around but it’s hard for a lay person to tell who’s who, so do what you can to protect yourself from cowboys, is our message.
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pottsy99
last month
The easiest way to tell is to take it out before you go to work or to the shops . If the upstairs has fallen down when you get home , it was load bearing . . . . . . . . .
PRO
Dr Retro House Calls
last month
I think it is load bearing as the beams are not big enough to span the full width of the house. You will need advice from a structural engineer to specify an appropriate steel beam to take the load. It won't be an easy or cheap job. You will also need to think about the floor finishes and how they transition between rooms - what happens in the gap between the tiles where the wall was? I would suggest that you live in your new home for 12 months before knocking down walls as you may find the separation between living areas valuable in reducing noise, or controlling heat/cold.

Best of luck with your new home,

Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls and Dr Retro Virtual Visits
Claire Searson
Original Author
last month
heres a picture of the other side of the wall - the beams do span the whole width of the house... but yes from your comments and earlier comments most people are saying it’s load bearing so something that we would really need to consider if it’s worth it for us or not. 🤔

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