Hello,
We have a house built in 1920 and all the interior walls are constructed with bricks, so I assume they have a load-bearing function (but I'm not sure).
We are installing a new kitchen and want to make a hole in the wall leading to a pantry where a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer will be placed. The width of such a refrigerator/freezer is 92cm, and the plan is for the hole to be around 100cm. The height, if it matters, is about 200cm with a total kitchen height of 330cm. So quite a lot of "wall" remains above the hole.
What complicates things a bit is that the space is tight. There is a chimney on one side and water pipes on the other, and I don't want to disturb these. The width to work with = 110cm.
My idea is to make the hole, use a hydraulic jack to install an I-beam, and then bolt a steel rail on each side, perhaps around 1 cm thick, on which the I-beam rests against the edges. Use sturdy expanders with 20-25cm spacing, and once this is secured, have a friend come and put a few welding points in the corners to ensure the I-beam doesn't move.
How does this sound?
We have a house built in 1920 and all the interior walls are constructed with bricks, so I assume they have a load-bearing function (but I'm not sure).
We are installing a new kitchen and want to make a hole in the wall leading to a pantry where a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer will be placed. The width of such a refrigerator/freezer is 92cm, and the plan is for the hole to be around 100cm. The height, if it matters, is about 200cm with a total kitchen height of 330cm. So quite a lot of "wall" remains above the hole.
What complicates things a bit is that the space is tight. There is a chimney on one side and water pipes on the other, and I don't want to disturb these. The width to work with = 110cm.
My idea is to make the hole, use a hydraulic jack to install an I-beam, and then bolt a steel rail on each side, perhaps around 1 cm thick, on which the I-beam rests against the edges. Use sturdy expanders with 20-25cm spacing, and once this is secured, have a friend come and put a few welding points in the corners to ensure the I-beam doesn't move.
How does this sound?
purely spontaneously and without really knowing, I would have done something similar if it had been at my place, so to my ears it works great... but as I said, I am far from educated but consider myself handy and wise... 
good luck...
good luck...
I am somewhat skeptical about the jack.
It is a brick house, not a wooden house - you can't just lift a stone house without causing damage.
Start by finding out if the wall is load-bearing.
It is very rare for all walls to be load-bearing.
Then you can choose a method to implement measures.
It is a brick house, not a wooden house - you can't just lift a stone house without causing damage.
Start by finding out if the wall is load-bearing.
It is very rare for all walls to be load-bearing.
Then you can choose a method to implement measures.
Thank you for the response.
I mean the jack simply to hold the beam in place while I install the steel rails. So not moving/lifting the wall above at all.
How do you know if an interior wall is load-bearing in an old house?
I mean the jack simply to hold the beam in place while I install the steel rails. So not moving/lifting the wall above at all.
How do you know if an interior wall is load-bearing in an old house?
You can always dig a hole and see if it collapses; if it collapses, it was load-bearing, otherwise not.
Otherwise, you have to put on your engineer hat... what does it look like above (roof trusses/walls, etc.)
I've mostly tinkered with wooden constructions, and in my opinion, they are a bit more forgiving when it comes to load-bearing walls... you get a little more warning before everything goes to hell, stone and brick are more brittle materials that can crack if subjected to tensile loads.
/ATW
Otherwise, you have to put on your engineer hat... what does it look like above (roof trusses/walls, etc.)
I've mostly tinkered with wooden constructions, and in my opinion, they are a bit more forgiving when it comes to load-bearing walls... you get a little more warning before everything goes to hell, stone and brick are more brittle materials that can crack if subjected to tensile loads.
/ATW
The house is old and there is no construction blueprint, just a floor plan.
No, I wasn't planning on opening up the hole without first knowing it's safe. But, who do I find who can handle this? Is it the local small construction firm or should it be a construction engineer consultant?
No, I wasn't planning on opening up the hole without first knowing it's safe. But, who do I find who can handle this? Is it the local small construction firm or should it be a construction engineer consultant?
Can you access so you can see the rafters? Are there any joints on the rafters? With the opening you are going to make, it may unfortunately involve a single rafter that needs to be bypassed. You can do this easily from above instead if the rafters are not already load-bearing, i.e., if they rest on the exterior walls. I had a similar problem and called in a carpenter to look at the issue. He didn't charge for this and it took 10 minutes.