Hello
I would need your help to check if I'm thinking correctly. I know I need to hire a structural engineer and get approval from the association before I can even start.
The idea is to make a hole in the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and the living room. For your information, it’s the ground floor of a three-story residential building.
There will be 15cm of concrete left on each side, which will be complemented with columns beside it to support the laminated beam.
The question is really how much simpler it is to make a hole in the wall compared to taking the whole thing down? I'm mostly thinking cost-wise and perhaps a lot less work to execute? It would look so much nicer with an opening there.
Thanks in advance!
I would need your help to check if I'm thinking correctly. I know I need to hire a structural engineer and get approval from the association before I can even start.
The idea is to make a hole in the load-bearing wall between the kitchen and the living room. For your information, it’s the ground floor of a three-story residential building.
There will be 15cm of concrete left on each side, which will be complemented with columns beside it to support the laminated beam.
The question is really how much simpler it is to make a hole in the wall compared to taking the whole thing down? I'm mostly thinking cost-wise and perhaps a lot less work to execute? It would look so much nicer with an opening there.
Thanks in advance!
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You need to create a floor plan to show how the frame system is constructed. The presence of a column suggests that the wall in question might not be load-bearing at all. In that case, it is much easier to hire a concrete cutter to make a neat hole than to take everything down and rebuild it.
The presence of a pillar may otherwise indicate that there is a line of some kind, water, electricity, stormwater, or sewer. We had a combination in our apartment, a thick supporting pillar that gurgled with rainwater when it rained.
Entirely possible, but the placement of the column next to the stairs argues against it. But as mentioned, drawings are necessary for a proper assessment.Anna_H said:
Thank you for the responses, I am quite sure that the column is there because we have a staircase to the upper floor that goes beside it, and also a doorway next to it. Above the column is my hallway leading to the bedrooms, so it's only the upper floor's floor that is above the column. Unfortunately, there are no construction drawings available, I've been in contact with the building department at the municipality as well as the association, feels disappointing :/ just so you know, there's also reinforcement above the doorways in the concrete, I saw it when I removed the frames.
There is no need for construction drawings, a to-scale floor plan is sufficient. Such plans must be available at the municipality. The presence of reinforcing steel unfortunately does not say much. All concrete walls are reinforced, even the non-load bearing ones. The year of construction can be important information.
I added two images, they should have been the same size though.
I thought maybe the framework was a consistent pillar/deck solution. Unfortunately, the current wall is likely part of the house's load-bearing system. Possibly it's just its upper part in the form of a beam, but you need a reinforcement drawing to see that. Without such a drawing, I would probably advise against proceeding.
The light balcony wall makes me think that the load-bearing is on the transverse partition walls, despite the presence of the "ryggväggen".