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Remove load-bearing brick wall in 2-storey house???
I live in a functional-style 2-story house with a basement. It is externally insulated with brick, so the walls are 50cm thick. The floor plan is quite square with two "hjärteväggar(?)" in a cross shape. These are positioned the same on both floors. The floors are made of poured concrete vaults. The interior wall that I eventually want to remove on the ground floor is 30cm of plastered brick and is about 4.20 meters long. It extends from the outer wall to the center of the house where the "hjärteväggar" meet.
The magic question is: Is it possible? I would, of course, hire a firm, but I'm throwing out a question hoping that someone has done something similar and can share their experiences.
The magic question is: Is it possible? I would, of course, hire a firm, but I'm throwing out a question hoping that someone has done something similar and can share their experiences.
Sure, it's technically possible, and if you can manage a remaining "frame" it also becomes economically reasonable.
You need a beam to relieve the weight from above. If you don't want it to be visible from the ground floor, you'll need to hide it in the ceiling or in the wall on the upper floor. In practice, this means you have to tear down the ceiling and possibly part of the wall above. Expensive and cumbersome.
Then the beam needs to rest on something. The simplest way is to keep a bit (maybe 25cm?) of the old wall on each side of the room, like pillars. If you want to avoid even these, you'll need to make holes in the sidewalls and insert the beam into these holes. Again, cumbersome. Especially since there might be "stuff" in the walls (electricity, water, chimneys, etc.). Furthermore, the span becomes longer, which leads to a larger beam in the ceiling. Larger beams are harder (= more expensive) to hide.
The work process is, in principle:
1. Make several holes in the wall, just above where the beam will go.
2. Place the new beam parallel to the old wall (once you have the supports in place, it will be hard to get it there).
3. Stick short (about 1.5 - 2 m) iron beams straight through the new holes in the wall.
4. Support the iron beams from underneath.
5. Tear down the wall.
6. Place the final iron beam under the short, temporary beams.
7. Remove the temporary beams.
8. Repair the holes and fix the surface.
Remember, it's a fantastically dirty job to tear down a brick wall, especially if it's built with lime mortar, indoors. You will have dust everywhere for many months.
And, above all, ask a structural engineer to calculate the dimensions for the beams. I also believe you need a building permit/building notification for something like this.
/ Fredrik
You need a beam to relieve the weight from above. If you don't want it to be visible from the ground floor, you'll need to hide it in the ceiling or in the wall on the upper floor. In practice, this means you have to tear down the ceiling and possibly part of the wall above. Expensive and cumbersome.
Then the beam needs to rest on something. The simplest way is to keep a bit (maybe 25cm?) of the old wall on each side of the room, like pillars. If you want to avoid even these, you'll need to make holes in the sidewalls and insert the beam into these holes. Again, cumbersome. Especially since there might be "stuff" in the walls (electricity, water, chimneys, etc.). Furthermore, the span becomes longer, which leads to a larger beam in the ceiling. Larger beams are harder (= more expensive) to hide.
The work process is, in principle:
1. Make several holes in the wall, just above where the beam will go.
2. Place the new beam parallel to the old wall (once you have the supports in place, it will be hard to get it there).
3. Stick short (about 1.5 - 2 m) iron beams straight through the new holes in the wall.
4. Support the iron beams from underneath.
5. Tear down the wall.
6. Place the final iron beam under the short, temporary beams.
7. Remove the temporary beams.
8. Repair the holes and fix the surface.
Remember, it's a fantastically dirty job to tear down a brick wall, especially if it's built with lime mortar, indoors. You will have dust everywhere for many months.
And, above all, ask a structural engineer to calculate the dimensions for the beams. I also believe you need a building permit/building notification for something like this.
/ Fredrik
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