Anyone knocked down an interior wall themselves? I'm thinking of doing this to save money.

[LyraSilvertongue]

Our new house has an internal brick non-loadbearing wall I want to knock down. Anyone know if this is simple enough to do? I need to save cash so I can afford a swanky worktop in my new kitchen.

1. Are you absolutely positively sure it's not load bearing?
2. You will need to check you don't need some sort of beam/RSJ to support the ceiling when you take the wall down
3. What is the wall built of? If brick.block built they can be surprisingly hard to take down, even with a sledgehammer, unless you've a nice Strong Man to hand.

Yes, it's not loadbearing, just a celing/flat roof above it. DP's quite strong. He could probably do most of the heavy work. I'm planning on cutting a sort of square arch out of it but not sure the bricks across the top won't fall down.

I have done it many times and am a 9 stone weakling

Really? Can you give me any tips?

The bricks won't stay up that way

You either need to remove it all or put up a beam

Be very careful just because there is a flat roof above it doesn't mean it isn't load bearing

How old is the property/extension?

It would be unusual for a brick wall not to be loadbearing in houses of a certain age

Is there a possibility of pipes or eletrics in the wall?

There are electrics to a wall light but I think that's it. It's a 30s house but the wall is part of a seventies extension. The current owner, who built the extension, says it's built of brick.

What ae the dimensions of the 2 rooms

Which way do the rafter run (parallel to the wall you want to remove or perpendicular to it)?

Does it have a DOOR IN IT OR JUST A FLAT WALL.dO NOT CUT A SQUARE OUT WITHOUT A SUPPORT.

I don't know about the rafters. No door in it, just a flat wall.
It's looking like I don't know nearly enough to do it myself

The extension was built to extend both the kitchen and dining room at the back of the house. The wall I want to knock down divides the two extended bits. It's probably about 1.5 to 2 metres.

Ring the building control people & ask them - they may come out & have a look

Do be careful - it isn't straight forward unless you know all the information

Also what are you floors made of?

How will you make good the floor?

The floors are wood, so should be patch-up-able. I think I need a builder after all

even if you just get one in to check if it's doable by yourself - it may only cost £50 or so - but it is worth it honest

Building Control may be able to advise you for free

Thanks for the advice.

Just because it's only got a flat roof above doesn't mean it's not loadbearing. The wall may be supporting short joists in that roof - it's really strange to build a non-load-bearing wall from bricks. Be careful.

You need to get a proper professional to look at it. It may not APPEAR load-bearing but if it is a flat roof about it is more complicated that you think, especially if that floor roof is concrete. An engineer will do the calculations you need. If you want an arch/squared bit then you will need a steel joist to hold it up.

On the bright side, lots of housebuilders are laying off people so you should be able to find someone to do it...

don;t do it......not without advice first from a builder.

a friend tried this, without asking my DH (who is a builder/bricklayer), and the ceiling fell down! she was lucky, hers was in an extension with a flat roof above, so it did not cause a room to cave down, but it left her with major leak which they only discovered after a hugely heavy rainfall and their entire downstairs was flooded and ruined!

Ok, I'll get a builder round. I don't want to risk ruining my new house. Thanks for your comments.