Is it expensive to move a wall?

[FlashTheSloth]

Our house has been extended, not by us. I wouldn't have done the layout as they did and the room configurations are bugging me. We have a downstairs shower room which is off a study. The shower room is bigger than it needs to be and the study could do with being bigger, plus it has the boiler in, window, archway and door to shower room, so not a lot of wall space. I would like the wall moved half a meter and the door switched sides so it gives us a corner and long wall of space tomuse in the study. Idea is we can have 2nd TV, games console and small sofa in there. Can't have 2nd TV in the dining room as they took the wall down between the front room and dining room so we only have 1 TV, which is fine now but will be a pain as DC get older.

We use the shower room more than the upstairs bathroom so definitely don't want to lose that.

The key question is whether it is a supporting wall or not - check whether there are any walls above it and which way the joists run.

If it's not a supporting wall then it's a relatively quick and straightforward job - demolish existing wall, build timber structure for new wall, insulate, plasterboard and plaster, put in door frame and hang door, maybe a few days work. More if you need to move any electrics/plumbing.

If it's a supporting wall then it will be much more complicated and may require installation of a steel beam, it will be a lot more expensive.

If the configuration seems a bit odd then there may be a good reason for why it's been done like that (eg it's a supporting wall or the services are in the way etc) so you need to investigate a bit further

It's not necessarily hugely expensive or complicated to remove a supporting wall, but it does depend on a number of things and you'd need a structural engineer to do the calculations. If it's the original exterior wall of the house, it might well be easier than removing an internal wall.

It's not a supporting wall. Plasterboard wall in the extension to create 2 rooms. It's been done the way it has because the previous owners seemed clueless, everything has been done on the cheap and bodged and they wouldn't have thought through the issues in the study. It's almost more of a through room than a proper room because there isn't much wall space. It does have electrics in the wall though so obviously that will be a factor.