Open up wall between kitchen and dining room, house with interior brick walls
I have a problem that I need quick help with. To begin with, I can say that I have been looking for a constructor, but everyone seems to be on vacation.
I'm going to open up a wall between the kitchen and the dining room in connection with building a new kitchen and laying the floor. My house is 1½ stories from 1938 with a brick frame and interior brick walls. Even upstairs, some walls are made of brick (those remaining from the original layout).
Upstairs, there's a wall directly above the one I want to open up. My measurements show that the wall on the ground floor is about 16 cm thick including plaster, and upstairs it's about 11 cm thick. In the attic, I have measured and concluded that there is no roof truss exactly at this wall, but the wall does not continue in the attic. However, there is a corresponding wall in the basement that seems to be directly underneath.
Someone mentioned that the wall might be built all the way from the basement up through the floors. If so, it would be a bigger problem to remove the wall in the middle. But could there be a beam supporting the wall on the ground floor and the wall upstairs? If so, there shouldn't be any problem reinforcing it with an additional beam of some kind.
Has anyone done something similar, and how should I dimension the beam that I install instead of the wall I'm removing? And how do I install a beam without the wall above collapsing if it's bricked all the way up? I've seen examples with angle iron, but that wouldn't work if I need to cut the wall precisely in line with the ceiling.
I have attached a quick picture of the house, where the red wall is the one I'm going to open up. The small part towards the middle of the house I plan to keep as support.
I'm going to open up a wall between the kitchen and the dining room in connection with building a new kitchen and laying the floor. My house is 1½ stories from 1938 with a brick frame and interior brick walls. Even upstairs, some walls are made of brick (those remaining from the original layout).
Upstairs, there's a wall directly above the one I want to open up. My measurements show that the wall on the ground floor is about 16 cm thick including plaster, and upstairs it's about 11 cm thick. In the attic, I have measured and concluded that there is no roof truss exactly at this wall, but the wall does not continue in the attic. However, there is a corresponding wall in the basement that seems to be directly underneath.
Someone mentioned that the wall might be built all the way from the basement up through the floors. If so, it would be a bigger problem to remove the wall in the middle. But could there be a beam supporting the wall on the ground floor and the wall upstairs? If so, there shouldn't be any problem reinforcing it with an additional beam of some kind.
Has anyone done something similar, and how should I dimension the beam that I install instead of the wall I'm removing? And how do I install a beam without the wall above collapsing if it's bricked all the way up? I've seen examples with angle iron, but that wouldn't work if I need to cut the wall precisely in line with the ceiling.
I have attached a quick picture of the house, where the red wall is the one I'm going to open up. The small part towards the middle of the house I plan to keep as support.
No one with a good idea?
Since there seems to be a wall in the same place on three floors, as you say, it could be that the wall is built from the basement all the way up to the upper floor. I wouldn't tear anything down without first finding out for sure how it is constructed; unfortunately, I can't give any tips. What's in the intermediate floor, wood or concrete slab?
I have difficulty accessing how it looks in the floor structure. Any tips? And the original drawings I obtained from the city planning office show no details about this.
My contractor suggested that we should make holes in the brick wall on the upper floor and then insert beams there to support the wall while we open up the ground floor. But this would mean major interventions on built-in wardrobes, etc.
I am attaching the drawings I received recently. All tips are welcome at this stage. I will probably have to consult a structural engineer the same day the contractor is set to start the project. However, the job involves other things that he can begin with.
View attachment Reformatorn.pdf
My contractor suggested that we should make holes in the brick wall on the upper floor and then insert beams there to support the wall while we open up the ground floor. But this would mean major interventions on built-in wardrobes, etc.
I am attaching the drawings I received recently. All tips are welcome at this stage. I will probably have to consult a structural engineer the same day the contractor is set to start the project. However, the job involves other things that he can begin with.
View attachment Reformatorn.pdf