The wall! The WALL

[scorpiogirly]

First of all, please excuse the mess. My house is a total tip and the moment.

When these two rooms were knocked into two, there was a piece of wall left as you can see on the left.

This has bugged me for a while and have always wanted it removed. I am doing this now as I want to lay laminate flooring. I wanted to get this done before Christmas but it is not looking likely now.

I have had one quote so far which is £1500. Have more people lined up to come.

My question is, does it look that odd. Would it bother you? And would you pay 1500 to have it removed.

I would absolutely get rid of it! We’ve remodelled our house (while still living in it, so that was fun!) and had to do a lot of this because we took out/moved a lot of walls about - so worth it in the long run.
A relative has a wall a bit like this in her house and every time I go round I think that the wall looks really annoying 😂

Wouldn’t bother me. Just think about how you can include it into decorating/organising the room so it doesn’t look odd.

It would really bother me.

And then I would hear, “£1,500”

And it would bother me no more.

I'd build up the opposite side to match, then use the space between the chimney breast and the new bit for built in storage/shelves and the TV.

We had similar on both sides, and it was the same in the bedrooms upstairs.

We had it all taken out, starting in the loft and working down. In the bedroom, no further work required because there was no longer any weight above. Downstairs we've got a steel so we've still got something going across the ceiling but the walls are all flat.

It made a massive difference for us especially in the bedrooms because the point where the rooms were divided wasn't a logical point, it made two halves that weren't useful sizes.

Echoing everyone else make sure building regs are applied for (we did this) and then your builder arranges for them to inspect it before it is plastered and painted. They need to be able to see the steel is installed properly.

Put the wall back! With large double doors between two separate rooms. Will look so much nicer and solve the problem. No structural issues. Easier to arrange furniture than in a long narrow space. That's what I'd do.

It wouldn’t bother me. I’d just make
a feature of it in some way once it was finished.

To be honest I'd rather it went. But it really depends on the family budget. If you can afford it, then make yourself happy. People spend all on all sorts of non essentials. Do what makes you happy 😁

Have you just moved in? It's the sort of thing you move in saying "I can't live with that for long" then 10 years later you realise it's still there and you haven't noticed it for 9.5 years.

I did actually consider this too. I'm so useless at deciding!

@MargaretThursday No, I've lived here all my life. My mother passed 10 years ago so I stayed here.

£1500 to install an RSJ? Who on earth is quoting that cheaply?

that was my thought, too!!

I would use it as a room feature that breaks up what would be boring, otherwise. I like the bit of wall visually. I would also not tinker with a supporting wall.

I'd leave the wall but I would remove the chimney breast. It will make the room a lot wider.

If what bothers you the most is it being uneven, why not get someone to build a small matching wall opposite? It would undoubtedly be a lot cheaper and not structural. Two little indents would break up the space and look symmetrical and deliberate.

@scorpiogirly Three options, put the wall back but install pocket doors so they slide into the wall rather than having ones that open in or out, massive space saving. Lots of videos on youtube showing you pocket doors install.

Build a matching wall on the other side to even up the space.

Remove the wall. When we did our kitchen extension I would have had that same wall stick out on the side where I wanted my kitchen units to run, it is the outside wall of the house and where I wanted the extractor mounted to vent outside rather than having a recirculating fan.

I avoided having the wall nub by having a vertical steel inserted into the wall, a pad stone on top of that and then a new steel across the top. I think they removed the internal bricks and it sat against the external outer wall of the house.

My structural engineer didn't even visit the site, this is an estate built in the 1990s and we provided him with photos of the brick work and cavity so he could see the construction method with measurements from our technical drawings from the architect, he emailed over the technical drawings for the construction for the builder and it cost us less than £200 a decade ago.

I would leave it.

Will look fine once all painted etc