Hello.
I have decided to tear down the wall between the living room and the kitchen in my apartment, but it has proven to be not so simple.
Facts:
I live on the first floor and have three floors above me.
The wall I intend to remove is 4m 15cm long
The wall is made of approximately 4-7cm thick "black lekablock", sounds "heavy" when you knock on it. It feels like a thin concrete wall and is not anchored to the outer sides.
The house was built in 1937
- There shouldn't be any pipes or similar in it, it's a divider between the kitchen and the living room.
There are wooden beams between the apartments, but since I live half a flight up, I have a concrete slab throughout the apartment.
In the attached file, you can see the floor plan and which wall I intend to tear down. I also intend to close the hole between the living room and the "bedroom", thus getting a separate bedroom.
The apartments above have the same floor plan.
The problem is that the wall is not on any beam, but the cross beams run 15cm on both sides of the wall. In the floor of my apartment, there is a concrete slab a bit down, so my wall stands on the concrete slab. The problem is in the apartment above where there is a similar wall. The only thing separating my wall from the neighbor's above is my inner wooden ceiling.
In the second picture, you can see what it looks like after I have knocked on the wall and ceiling a bit.
You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
What should I do?
I understand that I need to install some form of beam there. Any tips? Laminated timber beam or iron beam?
What type and dimension do you think is required?
If I missed writing something important, let me know, and I'll update the post.
I have decided to tear down the wall between the living room and the kitchen in my apartment, but it has proven to be not so simple.
Facts:
I live on the first floor and have three floors above me.
The wall I intend to remove is 4m 15cm long
The wall is made of approximately 4-7cm thick "black lekablock", sounds "heavy" when you knock on it. It feels like a thin concrete wall and is not anchored to the outer sides.
The house was built in 1937
- There shouldn't be any pipes or similar in it, it's a divider between the kitchen and the living room.
There are wooden beams between the apartments, but since I live half a flight up, I have a concrete slab throughout the apartment.
In the attached file, you can see the floor plan and which wall I intend to tear down. I also intend to close the hole between the living room and the "bedroom", thus getting a separate bedroom.
The apartments above have the same floor plan.
The problem is that the wall is not on any beam, but the cross beams run 15cm on both sides of the wall. In the floor of my apartment, there is a concrete slab a bit down, so my wall stands on the concrete slab. The problem is in the apartment above where there is a similar wall. The only thing separating my wall from the neighbor's above is my inner wooden ceiling.
In the second picture, you can see what it looks like after I have knocked on the wall and ceiling a bit.
You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
What should I do?
I understand that I need to install some form of beam there. Any tips? Laminated timber beam or iron beam?
What type and dimension do you think is required?
If I missed writing something important, let me know, and I'll update the post.
Get a constructor!!!!
According to the description, the wall is made of slag concrete, but what is visible in the photo is brick, isn't it?
Are you sure the wall continues up in the neighbor's apartment with the same material?
What is the dimension of the "beam" in the photo? Isn't that just a stud holding up the plastered ceiling?
Your wall is probably not load-bearing over three floors, but without understanding how the floor structure is built, I cannot rule out that it might at least support the wall above and/or the ceiling.
It is impossible to design a replacement beam without knowing the actual loads, and the beam must also have sufficient support at the ends. Even if the wall turns out to be non-load-bearing, handling 1m3 (about 2 tons) of demolition debris in a studio apartment(?) is a significant undertaking...
If you want to proceed with this, you need to contact a constructor who can investigate this on site.
/The Engineer
PS Moreover, you need a building permit (with structural calculations) for such a change and the approval of the housing association.....
According to the description, the wall is made of slag concrete, but what is visible in the photo is brick, isn't it?
Are you sure the wall continues up in the neighbor's apartment with the same material?
What is the dimension of the "beam" in the photo? Isn't that just a stud holding up the plastered ceiling?
Your wall is probably not load-bearing over three floors, but without understanding how the floor structure is built, I cannot rule out that it might at least support the wall above and/or the ceiling.
It is impossible to design a replacement beam without knowing the actual loads, and the beam must also have sufficient support at the ends. Even if the wall turns out to be non-load-bearing, handling 1m3 (about 2 tons) of demolition debris in a studio apartment(?) is a significant undertaking...
If you want to proceed with this, you need to contact a constructor who can investigate this on site.
/The Engineer
PS Moreover, you need a building permit (with structural calculations) for such a change and the approval of the housing association.....
Yes, there is a row of bricks at the top, the rest is the material I described earlier which you referred to as slaggbetong. I'm 100% sure that the wall continues up to the neighbor's apartment with the same material. What you said is absolutely right, that beam is just there to support my ceiling, the distance between the floors is about 40cm where the crossbeams are.
I'm fully aware that it's a big job, or actually it isn't because we'll park the trailer outside, so there won't be much hauling.
Right now we are actively looking for an engineer in the Malmö region who can help us.
As for planning permission, according to the planning authorities, it wasn't needed as they determined that the wall was not load-bearing, and even if it was load-bearing, a building notice would suffice, they said. Likewise, the board has given its approval as long as the work is carried out professionally.
I'm fully aware that it's a big job, or actually it isn't because we'll park the trailer outside, so there won't be much hauling.
Right now we are actively looking for an engineer in the Malmö region who can help us.
As for planning permission, according to the planning authorities, it wasn't needed as they determined that the wall was not load-bearing, and even if it was load-bearing, a building notice would suffice, they said. Likewise, the board has given its approval as long as the work is carried out professionally.