You’ll need to consider several things when removing an interior wall in your home. There are several reasons why you may want to remove a wall in your home. The most common reason for removing an interior wall is due to the additional floor space that this can bring.
Below, we will discuss the things that you’ll need to consider if you’re planning on removing an internal wall in your home.
The Reason
It’s important to consider why you want to remove an internal wall. What is the goal here? Perhaps you’re interested in transforming your existing kitchen and dining room into an open-plan room that can accommodate both. Open plan living is becoming more and more popular.
You may even consider removing an internal wall to allow more natural light to flow through the home. Before taking down a wall, you should consider if there are other options that may be more appropriate. For example, you could consider a skylight. A little bit of planning and prioritising may help you get the most out of your money.
The Type of Wall
If the wall is a load-bearing wall, this means that it is an important feature that helps support the home. Removing this type of wall could be detrimental to the safety of your home without installing a new RSJ.
Before removing an internal wall, consider the type of wall that it is. Load-bearing walls cost more to remove as you’ll need to ensure that your home remains safe.
Your Budget
As mentioned, it costs more to remove a load-bearing wall. You’ll need to speak to an architect and a structural engineer if you want to remove this type of wall. This can result in much higher costs than the removal of a simple diving wall.
However, it’s important to consider if the removal of the wall justifies the cost. Not all interior walls are load-bearing, and ones that aren’t may not cost as much.
What Is Inside The Wall
There may be electrical wiring, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, or plumbing pipes within the walls. If any of these exist in the wall that you want to remove, this may cause your water or other important things to stop working for a few days until it has all been relocated. With this in mind, you may need to find alternative accommodation while the work is being completed.
The Flooring
Removing an interior wall will leave some unfinished areas on the floor of your home. Where the wall once laid, there will be some gaps. The ideal thing to do in this case is to patch the unfinished area with some leftover flooring to finish it.
In many cases, the flooring that exists in your home will no longer be available on the market. With this in mind, you may need to consider a different type of flooring, and this may mean that you’ll need to replace all of the floorings in both rooms where the wall was laid between. This could result in some additional costs that you’ll need to factor into your budget.
