Hello,
I have read most of the posts now about demolishing load-bearing walls, and I have become a bit wiser. Now I'm curious if you share my conclusions or if I need to bring in a building technician to figure out if the wall is load-bearing. What makes me most uncertain is precisely that the wall is made of concrete, with wood you can get a bit closer to the truth depending on how thick the studs are.
The house was built in '55 and is a single-story house with a full basement entirely in concrete, thick concrete blocks in the exterior walls and load-bearing walls in the basement, which are also built with blocks. On the entrance floor, i.e., the floor above the basement, all interior walls are made of lightweight concrete and about 8-10 cm thick. Above is the attic, and the roof trusses are w-shaped, which I believe usually means a self-supporting construction resting on the exterior walls. On the plans I obtained from the municipality, there are no dashed lines to indicate load-bearing interior walls.
The wall in question runs down the middle of about half the house, parallel to this on the entrance floor, i.e., across the roof trusses, which might indicate that it is load-bearing. At one end of the wall, the house ends, and at the other is the chimney. But on the other side of the chimney, there is a door opening (lightweight concrete), and then the remaining stretch is another door opening and then a closet wall with closets from two sides, i.e., no concrete in this stretch, which would suggest that the roof trusses only rest on the exterior walls.
From what I’ve read here and a bit of common sense considering the roof trusses' construction and that the wall does not go through the entire house, I don't think the lightweight concrete wall is load-bearing. But can a lightweight concrete wall ever be load-bearing? Does lightweight concrete have the strength at 8–10 cm thickness? Should I dare to take down most of this wall without any construction expertise? Can I easily see if the roof trusses are supported by this wall? On the underside of the roof trusses, there is ordinary tongue-and-groove wood nailed along the house, and then there is a fabric-stretched ceiling. A load-bearing wall should be constructed in such a way that it rests directly against the roof trusses and not so you can first nail the wood and then mount the wall, right?
I'm keen on tearing down the wall, but I need some input from all you experts...
F
I have read most of the posts now about demolishing load-bearing walls, and I have become a bit wiser. Now I'm curious if you share my conclusions or if I need to bring in a building technician to figure out if the wall is load-bearing. What makes me most uncertain is precisely that the wall is made of concrete, with wood you can get a bit closer to the truth depending on how thick the studs are.
The house was built in '55 and is a single-story house with a full basement entirely in concrete, thick concrete blocks in the exterior walls and load-bearing walls in the basement, which are also built with blocks. On the entrance floor, i.e., the floor above the basement, all interior walls are made of lightweight concrete and about 8-10 cm thick. Above is the attic, and the roof trusses are w-shaped, which I believe usually means a self-supporting construction resting on the exterior walls. On the plans I obtained from the municipality, there are no dashed lines to indicate load-bearing interior walls.
The wall in question runs down the middle of about half the house, parallel to this on the entrance floor, i.e., across the roof trusses, which might indicate that it is load-bearing. At one end of the wall, the house ends, and at the other is the chimney. But on the other side of the chimney, there is a door opening (lightweight concrete), and then the remaining stretch is another door opening and then a closet wall with closets from two sides, i.e., no concrete in this stretch, which would suggest that the roof trusses only rest on the exterior walls.
From what I’ve read here and a bit of common sense considering the roof trusses' construction and that the wall does not go through the entire house, I don't think the lightweight concrete wall is load-bearing. But can a lightweight concrete wall ever be load-bearing? Does lightweight concrete have the strength at 8–10 cm thickness? Should I dare to take down most of this wall without any construction expertise? Can I easily see if the roof trusses are supported by this wall? On the underside of the roof trusses, there is ordinary tongue-and-groove wood nailed along the house, and then there is a fabric-stretched ceiling. A load-bearing wall should be constructed in such a way that it rests directly against the roof trusses and not so you can first nail the wood and then mount the wall, right?
I'm keen on tearing down the wall, but I need some input from all you experts...
F
1 Of course, lightweight concrete walls can be load-bearing!freddeh said:Hello,
I have read most of the posts about tearing down load-bearing walls, and I've gotten a bit wiser. Now I'm curious if you share my conclusions or if I need to bring in a building technician to figure out if the wall is load-bearing. What makes me most uncertain is that the wall is concrete; if it were wood, you could get a bit closer to the truth depending on how thick the studs are.
The house was built in '55 and is a single-story house with a full basement entirely in concrete, thick concrete blocks in the outer walls, and load-bearing walls in the basement level, which are also built with blocks. On the entrance level, i.e., the level above the basement, all interior walls are lightweight concrete and about 8-10 cm thick. Above that is the attic with w-shaped roof trusses, which I recall usually means a self-supporting structure resting on the outer walls. On the drawings I've obtained from the municipality, there are no dashed lines to indicate load-bearing interior walls.
The wall in question runs through the middle of about half the house and along it on the entrance level, i.e., across the trusses, which could indicate that it is load-bearing. At one end of the wall, the house ends, and at the other end is the chimney. But on the other side of the chimney, there is a doorway (lightweight concrete) and then another doorway along the remaining stretch and then a closet wall with closets on two sides, i.e., no concrete along this stretch, which would suggest that the trusses only rest on the outer walls.
From what I've read here and with a bit of common sense, considering the roof trusses' construction and that the wall doesn't run through the entire house, I don't believe the lightweight concrete wall is load-bearing. But can a lightweight concrete wall ever be load-bearing? Does lightweight concrete have the strength at 8-10 cm thickness? Can I dare to take down most of this wall without any construction knowledge? Can I easily see if the trusses are supported by this wall? On the underside of the trusses, there is ordinary tongue and groove wood nailed along the house, and then there are fabric stretched ceilings. A load-bearing wall should presumably be constructed in such a way that it lies directly against the trusses and not so that wood can be nailed first and then the wall put in place?
I'm eager to tear down the wall, but I need some input from all of you knowledgeable people...
F
2 Normally, they are thicker than 10 cm.
3 I think you should bring in someone who is knowledgeable in construction.
have spoken with a construction expert. his initial thought was that it was not load-bearing, partly because it only went through half the house and the chimney stack was in the middle, which he indicated as a sign that it is not load-bearing. however, he will come by to check properly, to be continued...
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