Can I put a door here? Or will the house collapse...

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Hello!

I'm considering changing the layout of the upper floor in our 1930s house.

The question now is whether it's possible to create an opening for a new door in the wall marked in red on my Paint drawing?

As you can see, the attic hatch is located directly above the wall in question. Therefore, there are no roof trusses resting on the wall. The roof trusses are otherwise of the Swedish type, i.e., they look like an "A."

Since it's on the upper floor, the wall can't be a load-bearing wall. It doesn't support anything. Or is it important for stabilization reasons?

I have opened the wall a bit at the floor. It looks like this:







You can see the floor joists on the right and left, but the beams are not connected, and the wall is not on any beam either. The brown stuff is peat insulation. Beneath that is the ceiling of the living room below.

So, to the question again: Is the wall load-bearing, and will the house collapse if I create an opening for a door in the wall?

I don't think it should be a problem myself, but I am very grateful for opinions.

 

[Anna_H]

As long as it isn't wider than the hole you've already made, it doesn't matter if the wall is load-bearing or not.

As long as you don't cut any vertical pillars and don't cut any horizontal beam at the top, but you will probably have a piece of wall left at the top? Remember to have the door open into the room, so it doesn't hit the attic hatch when it's open!

 

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As long as it doesn't have to be wider than the hole you've already made, it doesn't matter if the wall is load-bearing or not.

As long as you don't cut any vertical pillars and don't cut any horizontal beam at the top, but you'll probably have a piece of wall left at the top? Remember to let the door open into the room so it doesn't hit the attic hatch when it's open!

Thanks for the reply, Anna_H!

Okay, the idea was to do it like this:

• leave the pillars in place
• leave any horizontal beam at the top in place
• install a lying 45x220 beam above the door hole
• install a lying beam of suitable size, probably also 45x220, under the door hole, i.e., perpendicular to the floor joists

Perhaps it's overkill with the lying 45x220 above the door hole, but "better safe than sorry", so to speak .

And yes, the door should open into the room

 

[Anna_H]

Better too much than too little, as our carpenter said when we replaced our load-bearing "branches."

The glulam beam now spans the entire length, 4 meters, instead of half, and is twice as high and twice as wide as the original, and the pillars at both ends are slightly wider and twice as thick as the single post that stood in the middle.

The horizontal wall boards are not load-bearing in that wall since there's nothing underneath.

Personally, I would take the opportunity to remove as much turf as possible and replace it with some more modern insulation, but whether that's the correct procedure or not, I don't know. It's mostly about sound insulation.