Building/structural question

[Ric]

This is probably a stupid question, so you’ll have to bear with me as I’m a bit of a fuckwit when it comes to these things.

Moved house 18 months ago, and the previous owners built an L-shaped (two storey) extension on the back of the house but left the original external wall in. Means we’ve got that wall, complete with window and patio doors, still inside the house which looks a bit shit. Had quotes to remove the entire wall, but it’s very expensive (circa £15k) because of the load it’s bearing.

Can’t afford that, so now we’re thinking of just removing the window and patio doors to open it up a bit. Can we just go ahead and do that ourselves, or will they be bearing any of the weight above?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

We had something similar in our first house. We kept the wall but knocked it through as an arch.

 

[Stoned Rose]

No chance of an answer mate.

Now, if you’d have been asking about some 17 year old Lithuanian left back who’s played 3 games for a 4th division side in Sierra Leone, you’d be inundated with sage responses.

 

[idahoblues]

This is probably a stupid question, so you’ll have to bear with me as I’m a bit of a fuckwit when it comes to these things.

Moved house 18 months ago, and the previous owners built an L-shaped (two storey) extension on the back of the house but left the original external wall in. Means we’ve got that wall, complete with window and patio doors, still inside the house which looks a bit shit. Had quotes to remove the entire wall, but it’s very expensive (circa £15k) because of the load it’s bearing.

Can’t afford that, so now we’re thinking of just removing the window and patio doors to open it up a bit. Can we just go ahead and do that ourselves, or will they be bearing any of the weight above?

You'll be fine, the doors and windows have no structural purpose

 

[Barcon]

What he said ^

There should be a lintel above both the window and the door supporting the brick.

 

[Ric]

Thanks fellas, much appreciated.

 

[KingCarlito]

Three's a crowd, what the other two guys said are correct, the window and doors hold no structural load or purpose.

To save costs but a better outcome might be to partially remove the wall, you'd need to fix an RSJ (I-beam) to hold the load, and make an archway as such. Or a vertical pillar for a more open plan look. Seems strange that the previous owners built such a large extension without doing anything about this load bearing wall.

 

[yerwot?]

had a similar situation, had the same advice as posted on here. Two things, first one was the dust that was created, spread everywhere, would suggest copious amounts of polythene sheets to confine it, secondly, what to do with the bricks when removed, mine had been installed with "black mortar" apparently, which meant virtually every brick ended up as rubble. Goggles and a dusk mask obvs :)

 

[nw42]

had a similar situation, had the same advice as posted on here. Two things, first one was the dust that was created, spread everywhere, would suggest copious amounts of polythene sheets to confine it, secondly, what to do with the bricks when removed, mine had been installed with "black mortar" apparently, which meant virtually every brick ended up as rubble. Goggles and a dusk mask obvs :)

Does that mean he can only do the job as evening falls?

 

[worsleyweb]

15k to bang a bit of steel in! Fucking hell.

The worlds gone mad.