knocking down walls, building other walls

[LedaOfSparta]

We have about £3000 to play with, am I mad in thinking that if I spend £1500 on a kitchen in Ikea I can do a bit of other work too?

Namely knock down one wall ( which divides the kitchen and dining room) to the level of my worktop and also create a doorway size walk through and build a stud wall between the dining room and living room with French doors. I'd also need the existing kitchen door blocked up.

How much is all that realistically going to take in terms of cost and time?

I have absolutely no clue but it seems like a lot to ask!

No idea on cost but have you checked if the wall you want to knock down isn't a load bearing wall?

As Norbert said, it's doable if you don't have a supporting wall in your way. Even if one wall is load-bearing, it may not cost that much depending on the size of support but the building regulations fees and cost of a structural engineer to do the calcs will end up pushing it up by several hundred.

How would I know Norbert? Apart from getting a man in I mean!

One way of telling in a modern-ish house is if the walls sound hollow, meaning that they are stud walls used merely to partition space rather than hold the house up. In older buildings (pre-1960s), the walls are generally all solid-sounding as partitions were made of lathe and plaster or this sort of composite stuff (don't know the name).

If it's a Victorian house with typical front parlour/back parlour and an addition at the back for the kitchen then the walls that run the width of the house (so dividing the front and back reception and the back reception and the kitchen) are likely to be the load-bearing ones.

Have any neighbours knocked down these walls in their houses? Did they need to put in extra support?

Thanks Lala, it's an 80's built house and sounds hollow but then most of them do!

It might well be a supporting wall as it's sort of the only wall downstairs. It's the same as this house

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38834398.html%23/property-for-sale/photos/property-38834398.html?index=5

My explanation was a very rough rule of thumb - a competent builder who you get in to quote for the work would be able to give you a much better idea. If it's the only wall then it could well be supporting but, then again, it might be a house that has been built without any internal supporting walls. To complicate matters, stud walls are occasionally load-bearing so it is worth getting someone to look at it.

Your link didn't come up with anything when I opened it.

Be careful of that approach - in modern houses timber stud walls can be loadbearing. In fact all the Walls can be made of timber with a brick/render wall cladding the exterior - this is a common method of housebuilding.
The best way to approach things is to start by looking at the layout of your house. Does the wall you want to knock down have a corresponding wall upstairs above it? If not then it probably isn't. You should also check the joists at first floor level are the supported on the wall you want to remove? If not it is unlikely to be a problem.
I'd get a few builders out for a quote and they will be able to give you a better idea of what is technically possible and whether or not it fits in your budget.

Thanks all. I'll get a few recommendations for builders and get someone to have a proper look.

Hi....I've just paid £800 for a similar job!
We had a wall that was originally an outside wall, but another part of the building was built around it...making it a non-supporting internal wall.....but 18 inches of stone! There was a doorway already in the wall, so we had it taken down to floor level, an RSJ was put in as a safety precaution and we had a small area of beams treated for woodworm.
We disposed of the rubble ourselves to cut down the costs and my DH and DB helped to lift the RSJ into position too.
We now have a lovely kitchen diner!
I have also paid £330 to have the ceiling re-boarded (double boards as it is a kitchen above a bedroom) and re-plastered to a good finish.
In a few weeks we are having the chimney breast from the other end of the room (dining area) being taken down and 8ft sliding patio doors put in. This time it is a brick wall, not stone, but there is the added problem of a chimney stack that will need to be taken down!
So, we will be having a 9ft lintel put in, patio doors installed, cavity walls with insulation put either side of the doors, chimney stack removed, chimney breast removed, weatherproof barrier erected whilst work is carried out, rendering and plastering all made good and labour.....this has been quoted for at £1500 (again we will dispose of rubble ourselves, saving the cost of skip hire! and provide help with the lintel!)
I may have to pay some extra to have the ceiling re-boarded/plastered depending on how much damage there is once other work is finished.
We have used a local builder rather than a company, who quoted us more than double the price! This has actually worked out cheaper than I thought it would, especially as we have a 1800's stone cottage and things are never simple here!!!!
HTH :)

Invite a qualified structural engineer round for a consultation. We've used one a couple of times and been quite happy.

We paid £3000 just for the fitting and electrics. But I'm sure if you shop around for good prices you could do it better . We were in a hurry as was flood damage. Lucky for us our insurance paid !