how do I know if the wall is load-bearing or not?
I have a house with a wooden frame, except in the kitchen/laundry room, where everything is in "stone."
The ceiling for these 2 rooms is in concrete, as the upper floor is only above these rooms & they have a concrete slab.
There is a long wall with 3 windows & 2 balcony doors, this wall has a section in the middle that seems to be a pillar, as it is harder to drill there. In the same place, but in the middle of the room, there is a pillar, also equally hard. The other long wall is inward in the house & is fully covered, except in the middle where the staircase is.
Now there are 3 short walls (one wall separates the kitchen from the laundry room) all of these seem to be in light concrete blocks or something similar, could these be load-bearing? I was thinking of moving some openings in these walls.
How do I find out what I can do without installing beams?
I have a house with a wooden frame, except in the kitchen/laundry room, where everything is in "stone."
The ceiling for these 2 rooms is in concrete, as the upper floor is only above these rooms & they have a concrete slab.
There is a long wall with 3 windows & 2 balcony doors, this wall has a section in the middle that seems to be a pillar, as it is harder to drill there. In the same place, but in the middle of the room, there is a pillar, also equally hard. The other long wall is inward in the house & is fully covered, except in the middle where the staircase is.
Now there are 3 short walls (one wall separates the kitchen from the laundry room) all of these seem to be in light concrete blocks or something similar, could these be load-bearing? I was thinking of moving some openings in these walls.
How do I find out what I can do without installing beams?
Actually, this is an impossible question to answer without looking at the site, but if you post a drawing/sketch of the house here on the forum, you can definitely get qualified guesses... You can draw some conclusions from the spans, etc.
Have you checked the municipality's building archive to see if they have drawings of your house? Sometimes you're lucky and the building committee has done its job!
Otherwise, I recommend contacting a structural engineer/designer to come out and look at the house.
/The Engineer
Have you checked the municipality's building archive to see if they have drawings of your house? Sometimes you're lucky and the building committee has done its job!
Otherwise, I recommend contacting a structural engineer/designer to come out and look at the house.
/The Engineer
Not a silly question at all!
The architect's drawing of the house does not indicate which walls are load-bearing, but if you have a pure construction drawing, only the load-bearing and stabilizing walls are usually included. In older drawings, it varies greatly how load-bearing walls are marked - but based on the age of the house, building type, and spans, you can figure out a lot!
/Ingenjören
The architect's drawing of the house does not indicate which walls are load-bearing, but if you have a pure construction drawing, only the load-bearing and stabilizing walls are usually included. In older drawings, it varies greatly how load-bearing walls are marked - but based on the age of the house, building type, and spans, you can figure out a lot!
/Ingenjören
I have these bad pictures on my computer, I'll upload them for now (I also have the house's blueprints, but they aren't any good either)
this image shows the upper floor
the empty square at the bottom is the roof of the living room & has nothing to do with the construction of the upper floor!
the left wall that has 3 balcony doors is load-bearing & the right wall that the staircase breaks is also load-bearing.
between these walls are pupil roof trusses
the floor on this floor is a 20 cm thick concrete slab, which then has a fine fill of about 5 cm (this is where, among other things, plumbing is embedded.)
this image shows the upper floor
the empty square at the bottom is the roof of the living room & has nothing to do with the construction of the upper floor!
the left wall that has 3 balcony doors is load-bearing & the right wall that the staircase breaks is also load-bearing.
between these walls are pupil roof trusses
the floor on this floor is a 20 cm thick concrete slab, which then has a fine fill of about 5 cm (this is where, among other things, plumbing is embedded.)
office/family room, hallway, TV room & garage Are half a floor lower than the upper floor.
the garage's right & left wall are load-bearing, as are the family room's right & left wall
separate pupilt trusses over the family room & then a new set of pupilt trusses over the garage.
from the outside, the upper floor & "middle floor's" trusses form a unified roof, sloping from the upper floor to the garage.
the living room has its load-bearing walls on the left & right side, here there are long pupilt trusses, a laminated beam helps support the long trusses in the middle (it goes from the dining room's left wall & vertically straight down, crossing over the living room)
the dashed line we see at the top left is the upper floor that extends outwards, at the very top there is a room that extends outwards, but to the left, it's just the balcony that is outside.
Right under the upper floor, we have the laundry room, kitchen & dining area.
under the word kitchen, there is a bench drawn, the right part of the "bench" has a small rectangle, this is a pillar, which helps support the "upper floor."
presumably, there is a similar pillar inside the outer wall directly horizontally to the left.
what I want to do is move the doorway between the laundry room & kitchen, from its position at the right edge, to be at the far left on the same wall.
I also want to widen the doorway between the dining room & living room, the opening should be from its current position but extend almost all the way to the outer wall on the left side.
pictures from outside.
here we see the TV room windows
to the right is the garage
the brick wall on the left is the living room, and you can glimpse a wooden wall to the left, that is the upper floor
furthest to the left is the garage.
furthest to the right, the living room protrudes
here we see the TV room windows
to the right is the garage
the brick wall on the left is the living room, and you can glimpse a wooden wall to the left, that is the upper floor
furthest to the left is the garage.
furthest to the right, the living room protrudes
From what I see in your drawings, I can't see any problems with moving the doorway between the laundry and kitchen. This wall is not load-bearing. And even if it were, it wouldn't matter. In your case. Depending on the position of the trusses.
But the wall between the dining room and living room is 99% load-bearing. (According to what I can see in the drawings and pictures.) But clearly, it's possible to make the opening larger; You/You simply need to shift the wall.
And yes, it is very helpful to be a civil engineer.
But the wall between the dining room and living room is 99% load-bearing. (According to what I can see in the drawings and pictures.) But clearly, it's possible to make the opening larger; You/You simply need to shift the wall.
And yes, it is very helpful to be a civil engineer.
What kind of joist do you have over the laundry room then?
If a wall is load-bearing, it goes straight through the entire house both vertically and horizontally. Your wall between the laundry room and kitchen does not follow all the way up to the ceiling beams, or does it? It doesn't appear that way on your drawings. I completely assumed that you had wooden beams in the house, or is that not the case?
everything is wood, except for the part of the house we are now discussing.
the floor on the upper floor (the ceiling over the laundry room, kitchen & dining area) is 20 cm concrete
there is no ceiling on the lower floor & upstairs the plastic mats lie directly on the concrete.
you are right that the wall of the laundry room does not go all the way up, but perhaps many walls are needed to support the heavy concrete slab ???
the walls that go all the way up to the ceiling are only the long walls, left & right on the sketch.
yes, the wall between the dining area & living room does go all the way, but the concrete slab manages without a supporting wall under where the overhang is, so I am hesitant to say that it is load-bearing just because the wall continues.
the floor on the upper floor (the ceiling over the laundry room, kitchen & dining area) is 20 cm concrete
there is no ceiling on the lower floor & upstairs the plastic mats lie directly on the concrete.
you are right that the wall of the laundry room does not go all the way up, but perhaps many walls are needed to support the heavy concrete slab ???
the walls that go all the way up to the ceiling are only the long walls, left & right on the sketch.
yes, the wall between the dining area & living room does go all the way, but the concrete slab manages without a supporting wall under where the overhang is, so I am hesitant to say that it is load-bearing just because the wall continues.
I went to the municipal office a year ago and asked for everything they had about my house, which seemed difficult. I live in a neighborhood with similar houses, but only 4 of them are somewhat identical to mine, so the drawings I received are not 100% accurate, and I definitely didn't get all of them. I have a neighbor who has more drawings than I do; I can check if he has anything on the concrete slab.Byggaren said:I would guess (with 99.9% certainty) that the wall between the laundry room and the kitchen is load-bearing for the concrete slab. Even if the load-bearing part of the bottom reinforcement is on the short side, meaning from the outer wall to the parallel wall with the stairwell, the bottom will have long distribution bars. Usually, you don't want such long distribution bars because concrete weighs quite a bit, and the deflection in the slab will follow.
Can't you go up to the municipal office and bring the property designation with you? Then ask for the documents related to your house. If among them (often on microfilm) there's a copy of the reinforcement drawing in the slab, ask for a copy of it or a scanned file to publish here. Then it will be possible to definitively answer your question.
Regardless, it shouldn't matter much if you move the door opening, but it may require a beam over the door equivalent to the one that is likely already over the existing one.
If I am going to move the door to the laundry room, and the wall is load-bearing, in my little head it seems like I can still make the door opening without installing a beam?
It's the middle part of the wall that should support the concrete slab so it doesn't sag, similar to the pillar further away.
The pillar is roughly in the middle of the concrete slab, so the "lower" part can manage without that extra support, even the laundry room wall helps the upper part, and then the lower part lacks support anyway, where the stairs are.
It's the middle part of the wall that should support the concrete slab so it doesn't sag, similar to the pillar further away.
The pillar is roughly in the middle of the concrete slab, so the "lower" part can manage without that extra support, even the laundry room wall helps the upper part, and then the lower part lacks support anyway, where the stairs are.
this house is at least strangely built
the door in the laundry room wall is a sliding door that goes inside the wall. so from the door opening & far to the left there is a wooden wall, which does not seem to be load-bearing at all. Above the door, there is also wood (gypsum board) & it sounds hollow.
but as I understand from what you have described so far, the concrete slab can at least be made to bear, but not at this door. or?
I will hunt for drawings.
the door in the laundry room wall is a sliding door that goes inside the wall. so from the door opening & far to the left there is a wooden wall, which does not seem to be load-bearing at all. Above the door, there is also wood (gypsum board) & it sounds hollow.
but as I understand from what you have described so far, the concrete slab can at least be made to bear, but not at this door. or?
I will hunt for drawings.