Load bearing wall advice

barmeysmb1

Hi,
I'm looking to confirm if a downstairs internal wall, between kitchen and diner is load bearing. The wall itself is solid brick/block - however the wall on the first floor above is not. Could the ground floor wall still be load bearing?

Is there a sure fire way of checking ?
I was thinking of removing a section of ceiling (need to change anyway) and check which way the joists are running (ie across and over the wall - but i need some advice as to if this is conclusive enough ?

Thanks in advance

humptydumptybits

I'm no building expert so probably best to ignore me but when we did this the builder took up a couple of floorboards in the bedroom and said it was fine when he looked at the joists.

Cakeguts

barmeysmb1 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking to confirm if a downstairs internal wall, between kitchen and diner is load bearing. The wall itself is solid brick/block - however the wall on the first floor above is not. Could the ground floor wall still be load bearing?

Is there a sure fire way of checking ?
I was thinking of removing a section of ceiling (need to change anyway) and check which way the joists are running (ie across and over the wall - but i need some advice as to if this is conclusive enough ?

Thanks in advance

Floor boards run in opposite direction to joists.

Cakeguts

Where are the stairs? Could it be that the top of the stairs rest on this wall?

barmeysmb1

Thanks - the stair case top landing ends on a pantry wall in the kitchen, so pretty sure i can rule that out

Slinky

barmeysmb1 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking to confirm if a downstairs internal wall, between kitchen and diner is load bearing. The wall itself is solid brick/block - however the wall on the first floor above is not. Could the ground floor wall still be load bearing?

Is there a sure fire way of checking ?
I was thinking of removing a section of ceiling (need to change anyway) and check which way the joists are running (ie across and over the wall - but i need some advice as to if this is conclusive enough ?

Thanks in advance

Lifting the carpet upstairs is less intrusive than removing sections of ceilings.

barmeysmb1

Cakeguts wrote: »

Floor boards run in opposite direction to joists.

Thanks - the floor boards upstairs do run in the same direction as the wall, so as you say the joists will most definitely run over the wall in that case.

Does that still conclusively make the wall load bearing ?

Doozergirl

barmeysmb1 wrote: »

Thanks - the floor boards upstairs do run in the same direction as the wall, so as you say the joists will most definitely run over the wall in that case.

Does that still conclusively make the wall load bearing ?

Yes.

Consult a structural engineer.

barmeysmb1

Doozergirl wrote: »

Yes.

Consult a structural engineer.

Thanks - i have one SE in mind so far, costs are £120+VAT if no site visit.
With site visit = adding on £180+VAT
total = £300 + VAT - seems reasonable

Price sound about right or should i expect to pay less ?

Doozergirl

I pay less but for some reason most people seem to pay amounts like yours. No idea why; I use a reasonably sized, respected company that is VAT registered.

barmeysmb1

Thanks for the fast replies everyone :-)