If you’ve been spending your time lately trying to decide between coughing up a considerable amount of cash to buy a new home to get that light, airy, open floor plan, or removing a wall or two inside your home, we are here to help!
Maybe your brother-in-law told you that if you removed one or two walls inside your home, you could achieve the same look.
Wait, what if the wall is load-bearing? How can you tell? You’ve come to the right place.
What Is a Load-Bearing Wall?
As the name implies, this type of wall bears the weight of some portion of your home. The exterior walls of your home are a good example. They hold up not only their own weight but also part of the weight of the roof, the second floor, attic, etc.
When you want to remove all or part of a load-bearing wall, the weight that this wall held must be supported by other means, often by beams or columns.
Failure to add support beams or other structures could mean the collapse of your entire house!
Is There an Easy Way to Tell If a Wall Is Load-Bearing?
Before you even think about taking a sledgehammer to one or more walls, you must know if these are load-bearing walls. Guessing is not good enough in this important matter!
As we said before, exterior walls (the walls you see when you are outside looking at your home) are always load-bearing walls but interior walls can be either.
How Can You Tell the Difference Between a Normal Interior Wall and a Load-Bearing Wall?
Some interior walls are nothing more than a partition wall, a giant room divider, if you will.
However, other walls support loads that stagger the mind.
Take a look at our quick checklist for fast ways to tell if you are looking at a load-bearing or non-load-bearing wall.
A Quick Checklist for Beginners
- Get the Blueprints. If you still have the original blueprints or plans for your home, that is one quick way to see if a wall is just a partition wall or one that is load-bearing.
- Check the Attic. If the walls you are thinking of removing run perpendicular to the joists, that’s a good indication that the walls are load-bearing.
- Check the Basement or Crawlspace. If the wall runs parallel to the floor joists, then it is probably NOT a load-bearing wall.
- Partition walls often are non-load-bearing walls, but they could still be load-bearing. They may or may not have electrical outlets or light switches.
- An exterior wall is almost always load-bearing.
This is one home renovation project where you cannot guess! Removing a load-bearing wall without proper support beams can lead to roof leaks, partial roof collapse, floor buckling, cracks in adjoining walls, or even the complete collapse of your home!
How Can You Tell If Anything Is Inside a Wall?
One quick method for testing if anything is inside a wall, is to first check for electrical outlets or light switches. If the answer is yes, then you know that there is electrical wiring inside the wall that will need to be rerouted.
You can also put your ear to the wall and have someone turn on a hot water faucet. You can often hear water and/or gas moving inside the wall.
Is there a vent on or near the ceiling or floor? Chances are that the ducting goes through the wall.
Even masonry walls can contain pipes and wiring. You will need to have a plan for rerouting anything that is inside the wall.
Most DIYers do not have the tools or skills to reroute these items, which is why removing walls is best left to professionals such as Wall Removal Experts SA.
How Can You Know for Certain If It Is Safe to Knock Down a Wall on Your Own?
If you are 100 percent certain that the wall is not load-bearing, feel confident that you can handle anything you find inside the wall, and have obtained the proper permits, yes, nothing stops you from removing a wall in your Adelaide home.
Keep in mind that this is an extremely dusty, dirty job so rent a dumpster (yes, you will need one as you cannot put construction debris in your usual trash bin) and protect your furniture and walls from flying debris!
Don’t Forget Those Pesky Details!
No job is complete until all the details are done!
You must re-plaster or repair the ceiling depending on how much plaster or gyprock was damaged in removing the wall.
The floor will also need to be repaired so that it appears seamless. If you have a concrete foundation, check that no damage occurred that needs repair. You may need to add extra carpet or floor tiles that match what you have now.
Wall removals occasionally cause cracking of the gyprock in the room, requiring repair, replacement, plastering, and repainting.
Don’t forget the cleanup! That often takes longer than it does to remove the wall!
Hire a Professional: Wall Removal Experts SA
We get several calls a month from homeowners who thought removing a wall was simple but discovered that it was outside of their skill set.
The truth here is that most homeowners do not have the tools, knowledge, or experience to remove a wall in their home, especially a load-bearing wall.
If you’ve gotten in over your head, don’t fret! Call the professionals at Wall Removal Experts SA. We will be happy to put your project back on track.
For those who haven’t started, we will send a structural engineer to ensure that the wall you want to remove is done so safely, whether it is load-bearing or not. We will obtain all the necessary permits and keep your home’s structure intact!
Did we mention that we completely clean up afterward? We will handle all the details, including the ceiling and floor, so you don’t have to do anything but enjoy your new open floor plan!
Don’t waste time and money trying to tackle this huge project on your own. Call our friendly professional staff today and you could be enjoying your light and airy new home tomorrow!
We Are Adelaide’s Premier Wall Removal Specialists
We never sublet our work to less experienced contractors. We promise to always have a supervisor on- site to ensure that the job is done safely and according to your plans.
Other Services We Offer
While we are experts when it comes to removing all sorts of exterior and interior walls, we have many skilled tradesmen that can do other work, including:
- Lintel replacement
- Custom steel structures
- Brickwork for openings
- Concrete work
- Floor screeding
- Plastering
- Carpentry
- Roofing
If you have a home improvement project in mind, give us a call! We will be more than happy to discuss your ideas and offer a free estimate in your Adelaide home.
Call us today!
Our Name Says it All! Call Wall Removal Experts SA Today!
Free, accurate quotes and friendly service.
Call the professionals today and enjoy a brighter home tomorrow!
