Hello
I am completely inexperienced and slow, on my wife's orders I have to find out if I can tear down these walls.
Apparently, I have to start right away! So I'm starting here to see if anyone knows where I can begin with the tiger saw!
I want to tear down the red marked ones and possibly the blue one... I was told it's so nice with an open floor plan.
I'm also considering opening up the ceiling in the living room apparently, any tips?
Anyone have a good guess on how this can be accomplished?
I am completely inexperienced and slow, on my wife's orders I have to find out if I can tear down these walls.
Apparently, I have to start right away! So I'm starting here to see if anyone knows where I can begin with the tiger saw!
I want to tear down the red marked ones and possibly the blue one... I was told it's so nice with an open floor plan.
I'm also considering opening up the ceiling in the living room apparently, any tips?
Anyone have a good guess on how this can be accomplished?
Construction veteran
· 2 746 posts
The red one is certainly load-bearing, but not the blue one. If the red one has to be removed, it must be supported by a beam (glulam or steel). Opening up the ceiling requires reconstruction of the roof trusses. All the work requires someone who knows what they're doing to calculate it.
Considering that they are truss rafters, the red one should not be load-bearing either.
When it comes to opening the roof, truss rafters aren't very nice to look at.
When it comes to opening the roof, truss rafters aren't very nice to look at.
Since the house has trussed rafters, virtually no interior walls on the ground floor are load-bearing.
When it comes to the blue wall, if there is no wall between the front door and the kitchen, sand, gravel, etc. from shoes will spread into the kitchen. If you want to open up but avoid the dirt, you can have a wall that's just about a meter high between the rooms.
Good idea with a small wall there! 
I've read a bit and it should be self-supporting in many cases when it looks like ours. According to the previous owners, there had been a serving hatch in the red wall, if that might affect anything...
Otherwise, I guess we'll have to hire someone who knows about this, what are they called?
Otherwise, using the saw and checking if it gets stuck is a tip I've received.
I've read a bit and it should be self-supporting in many cases when it looks like ours. According to the previous owners, there had been a serving hatch in the red wall, if that might affect anything...
Otherwise, I guess we'll have to hire someone who knows about this, what are they called?
Otherwise, using the saw and checking if it gets stuck is a tip I've received.
You can probably trust Justus, but it's clear that it might be good to have someone see the house in reality, and in that case, it's a structural engineer you want to hire.
Feeling if it pinches in the saw is not a good tip. The biggest roof loads occur due to snow. Without snow, that kind of test is pointless.
I live in Skåne and we would be lucky to get snow these days. I feel like I'd like someone to take a closer look at it, a bit risky to start tearing it down just like that.J justusandersson said:
I was thinking about opening up the roof... maybe you can cover the trusses with something to make them look nicer. I thought about trying to work with light to get nice, dramatic shadows.
Has anyone done something similar and would like to share some pictures for inspiration?
Yes, and it will be so much fun to clean away dust, cobwebs, dead flies, lacewings, and wasp nests up there among the roof truss beams.Forlowt said:
Is that what your wife is longing for
By the way, what about insulation upwards? It's usually in the joists.
And electrical wiring? Ventilation ducts?
So be careful, it could be a lot of work!
If you want tips on a good consultant in Laholm, send a PM.
Otherwise, there are probably many skilled people down there, south of the ridge too
It can definitely look nice and seem practical with an open floor plan, but when it comes to furnishing, it is terribly impractical. Knocking down the walls you're considering means that almost all space for cabinets, bookshelves, etc., disappears from the living room if you have a sofa group with a TV there. The possibility of having a small sideboard against the wall between the kitchen and hall also disappears. Moreover, dust and dirt get free rein around that half of the house when there are such open spaces. Gravel and other dirt are tracked into the kitchen, where it mixes with crumbs and other things and then moves into the living room. If you also have shedding pets or anything else that generates a lot of dust, it ends up everywhere when air flows and movement patterns change instead of being stopped by a wall.
There are definitely advantages to an open floor plan, but personally I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages after having experienced both.
Still a bit sad that it wasn't possible to create a kitchen in a separate room in a way that anyone else but me was satisfied with. So it ended up being a compromise with the kitchen at an outer corner and an interior wall so that only one side of the kitchen is open to the rest. Being able to close the door to the kitchen and/or living room when someone is using noisy kitchen appliances is wonderful!
I would probably try to open up a larger opening between the kitchen and living room, like a large window or half-wall with a bit of wall on both sides of the opening. Also, I would make a half-wall or half-wall with columns between the kitchen and hall. That way, you get a more open feeling, but the furnishing options are still there (though slightly more limited), and dust, gravel, crumbs, etc., stay where they are today (probably along the walls). It should also be easier to integrate support beams, if needed, nicely when they can be built into the edges of the half-wall.
There are definitely advantages to an open floor plan, but personally I think the disadvantages outweigh the advantages after having experienced both.
Still a bit sad that it wasn't possible to create a kitchen in a separate room in a way that anyone else but me was satisfied with. So it ended up being a compromise with the kitchen at an outer corner and an interior wall so that only one side of the kitchen is open to the rest. Being able to close the door to the kitchen and/or living room when someone is using noisy kitchen appliances is wonderful!
I would probably try to open up a larger opening between the kitchen and living room, like a large window or half-wall with a bit of wall on both sides of the opening. Also, I would make a half-wall or half-wall with columns between the kitchen and hall. That way, you get a more open feeling, but the furnishing options are still there (though slightly more limited), and dust, gravel, crumbs, etc., stay where they are today (probably along the walls). It should also be easier to integrate support beams, if needed, nicely when they can be built into the edges of the half-wall.
Last edited:
Cleaning, yeah ... Haven't actually had any problems with wasps so far! Insect nets behind each vent!
There's electricity in the ceiling, but I don't see that as a big issue.
Just above the living room where we're planning to raise the ceiling there's nothing except for the electricity, there's ventilation over the kitchen going into the chimney (to the right of the red wall), which we're not planning to raise, only in the living room.
Regarding insulation in the attic, it's something I want to do to convert the attic into a sleeping loft and perhaps a cozy area for the kids.
I've previously had an open floor plan, and sure, there are those dust bunnies, but it's easier to clean at the same time... hmm
Since we have a basement the same size as the house, it doesn't feel like we're losing space directly. The family room we have in the basement was recently renovated, and we have an open fireplace and sofa group there, etc.
So the idea was basically to design the kitchen and living room with a kitchen island, dining table, and 2 sofas facing each other and not having the TV as the focus.
Friday night cozy time with the kids will happen in the basement, with a fire in winter and without it in summer, because it's cool and nice down there.
The plans are big and expensive, and one has to calculate all the time... I was thinking of building an entrance, either heated or cold, maybe open? ... Well, I don't know yet.
To move all the gravel from shoes, etc...
... Haven't actually had any problems with wasps so far! Insect nets behind each vent! There's electricity in the ceiling, but I don't see that as a big issue.
Just above the living room where we're planning to raise the ceiling there's nothing except for the electricity, there's ventilation over the kitchen going into the chimney (to the right of the red wall), which we're not planning to raise, only in the living room.
Regarding insulation in the attic, it's something I want to do to convert the attic into a sleeping loft and perhaps a cozy area for the kids.
I've previously had an open floor plan, and sure, there are those dust bunnies, but it's easier to clean at the same time... hmm
Since we have a basement the same size as the house, it doesn't feel like we're losing space directly. The family room we have in the basement was recently renovated, and we have an open fireplace and sofa group there, etc.
So the idea was basically to design the kitchen and living room with a kitchen island, dining table, and 2 sofas facing each other and not having the TV as the focus.
Friday night cozy time with the kids will happen in the basement, with a fire in winter and without it in summer, because it's cool and nice down there.
The plans are big and expensive, and one has to calculate all the time... I was thinking of building an entrance, either heated or cold, maybe open? ... Well, I don't know yet.
To move all the gravel from shoes, etc...
Then you need to bring in a structural engineer who can calculate how the framework can be reinforced to handle the increased load.
Have you checked if there are any restrictions in the local development plan, such as "prohibited to furnish attic" or anything that prevents you from extending the hallway?
We live outside the zoning plan so we can do a bit as we please. I've already talked to them a bit and you can actually do quite a lot without a building permit.BirgitS said: