Planning to remove a section of the wall between the kitchen and living room, about 2 meters up to the chimney breast. How do we do it easiest and what should we consider? Electrical wiring is most likely in the wall since the fridge and freezer are there today. Is there really no risk that this small section is load-bearing? It should be the other walls that run along the house, and besides, the chimney breast remains. Okay or?
If you mean that we should have a vote on the forum about whether your wall is load-bearing or not, I strongly advise against it. If you cannot determine with 100% certainty that the wall is not load-bearing, you should seek help from someone who can.
If it is load-bearing or not, it might be good to make sure of that first.
IF it is load-bearing, you cannot remove 2m and hope for the best.
If we assume it is OK to demolish. It might be good to open it in one direction first, remove the paneling so you can see if there is any electrical wiring in the wall.
Then it is often fastest to simply saw the wall in half with a reciprocating saw, making it easy to pry off the beams.
Disconnecting electricity, if you are at all unsure, leave it to an electrician. But if you carefully demolish, you can often tear down the wall with electrical conduits left hanging. Then the electrician can come and disconnect later.
Keep in mind that even if you turn off the circuit breaker that goes to the fridge and freezer, there may be more electrical conduits in the wall, possibly powered by another breaker.
IF it is load-bearing, you cannot remove 2m and hope for the best.
If we assume it is OK to demolish. It might be good to open it in one direction first, remove the paneling so you can see if there is any electrical wiring in the wall.
Then it is often fastest to simply saw the wall in half with a reciprocating saw, making it easy to pry off the beams.
Disconnecting electricity, if you are at all unsure, leave it to an electrician. But if you carefully demolish, you can often tear down the wall with electrical conduits left hanging. Then the electrician can come and disconnect later.
Keep in mind that even if you turn off the circuit breaker that goes to the fridge and freezer, there may be more electrical conduits in the wall, possibly powered by another breaker.
A simple way to find out if the wall is load-bearing is to, as the DIY enthusiast suggests, start cutting the wall in the middle with a reciprocating saw. If the wall pinches the saw blade, it is load-bearing.