Renovation Advice

Discussion in 'Taylor's Tittle-Tattle - General Banter' started by PotGuy, Oct 1, 2020.

  1. PotGuy

    PotGuy Forum Fetishist

    How difficult/expensive is it to demolish/rebuild an interior wall (drywall) around 4m x 2.8m, and rip up old floor tiles to make way for some nice new flooring?

    This is the first place I have owned, and while I am handy enough I don't have any idea how difficult or expensive this would be...

    The previous owners renovated 2013 but they did a shytt job.

    I'm sure lots of you have renovated your places before so any advice would be appreciated
     
  2. The Voice of Reason

    The Voice of Reason First Team Captain

    First of all if you have not been in your place very long, then don't go knocking things around straight away, give yourself 6 months to a year to think about what you want to do as you could be surprised how your ideas might change after living in a place for a while. Therefore you could end up regretting going in "Gung Ho" and knocking things around too soon.

    As for the cost, I can't help there, but be sure that wall you are thinking of knocking down is not a supporting wall. However, as long as you know what you are doing, then doing the work yourself will certainly be the best option financially, but if you don't know what you are doing that could end up being more expensive in the long run, should you have to get in a professional in to right what you might do wrong.
     
    hornmeister likes this.
  3. Diamond

    Diamond First Team

    Get some builders in to look at the job and give you ideas/ quotes. It may not be as simple as you think. The bonus is having a builder you know does good work and can be used again.

    From past experience I'd always get the builders in to do any demolition work & plastering but then do my own "minor" work such as flooring.
     
  4. HHHornet

    HHHornet Academy Graduate

    Is the wall that you're looking to remove a stud wall or a brick wall? If brick its probably a supporting wall and you would need building regs and I would get a builder - mostly because they are insured in case anything went wrong. If its a stud wall, its quite easy to take down, and then rebuild. If you want to keep the wall in the same spot it could be easier to just get a plasterer to make it look good.

    With the flooring, as its tiles they come up quite easy using a bolster, and laying your own floor generally just takes a bit of patients.

    It can all be done, just depends on your research, willingness to take on and how long you don't mind the mess being there. Obviously if you do the job it would be slower than a professional who does the work. With regards to cost would depend on all the factors above.
     
  5. PotGuy

    PotGuy Forum Fetishist

    Thanks so far

    Just to clarify, it is a super ****y partition wall used to create a second bedroom by splitting the kitchen/dining room. The old partition wall between the kitchen and dining room was demolished and moved half a meter out to widen the kitchen at the same time. They didn't bother changing the floors, so some of the kitchen has a half metre of old dining room floor visible (the dining room floor is also about a half Inch raised) and then the wall for the bedroom starts.

    Definitely not load bearing, shall we say
     
  6. hornmeister

    hornmeister Tired

    As others have said, removing a partition wall needs nothing more than a hammer and a saw. This assumes there are no services in that wall and it's not supporting.

    Replacing, repairing and making good will take skill and care but again not rocket science. I wouldn't take a wall out just because the flooring is off though. Flooring can be removed up to the wall and then replacement skirting board used. No need to take a whole wall down unless you of course don't want it there going forward.
     
  7. Teide1

    Teide1 Squad Player

    If its just a partition wall the removal is easy! hammer, chiesel and possibly a saw would do the trick!, the harder more skilled part would be to make good on the ceiling, floor and sides were the wall was!

    Why not do the removal yourself which would include taking the rubble down to the dump and then if you aren't confident/sure getting a handyman to complete the job!
     
  8. AndrewH63

    AndrewH63 Reservist

    This maybe the general rule, but on past experience I would be cautious. I have removed masonry walls that were not supporting walls. And lived in houses where a timber stud wall was providing support to joists. In my current house a timber window had been replaced with a UPVC window. The timber frame had given support to the roof above. Something the UPVC frame did not. The result was bowing of the ceiling that required strengthening timbers in the loft.

    So my advice is to think what is above the wall you want to remove. Lift some floor boards if necessary to see where the floor joists run. Also think about pipe and cable runs that might be in and about the wall you want to remove.

    finally think about the ceiling. A lath and plaster ceiling once disturbed might require more than just a patch up. If it has Artex, be warned until relatively recently these materials and finishes contained asbestos. Best to take precautions, get it tested. In any case this type of work creates the sort of dust you want to ensure you don’t get on your lungs.

    if in any doubt get an opinion from a trusted builder.
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2020

Share This Page