Help removing a wall

[Woodwerker]

Guys, getting ready to remove a wall in my parents home.
They just moved in last year and need a larger room uspstairs.
Its a three bedroom rowhome, here is a pic of the layout of the second floor.
I want to remove the wall seperating rooms 2 and 3 (red circle)
The wall does not run the length of the house so I am almost certain it is not load bearing. I would appreciate your thoughts. I have removed walls before so I am ok with the process. Just want to run it by another set of eyes.
Thanks in advance.
Joe

[TheRic]

Flat ceiling? Which way do the ceiling joists run? What are the dimensions of the rooms? If the joists run top-bottom, as looking at the picture, and depending on the length of the new room. I would question the ceiling holding it's own weight. If the joists run left-right I don't see a problem.

If the house comes tumbling down, I never even heard of this web site.

[Woodwerker]

Flat ceiling? Which way do the ceiling joists run? What are the dimensions of the rooms? If the joists run top-bottom, as looking at the picture, and depending on the length of the new room. I would question the ceiling holding it's own weight. If the joists run left-right I don't see a problem.

If the house comes tumbling down, I never even heard of this web site.

Thanks for the reponse, Love the last line

Flat Ceiling, celing joists run parell to the wall.
The room dimensions room 2 11'x8' room 3 11'x6' aprox..

[TheRic]

Thanks for the reponse, Love the last line
Flat Ceiling, celing joists run parell to the wall.
The room dimensions room 2 11'x8' room 3 11'x6' aprox..

Uh, your room sizes 11' X 8' and 11' X 6' It looks like the picture is not even close to actual. In fact no relation at all.

Since room 2 & 3 are next to each other, and "11" is the common number. That tells me that 11 goes left-right in the picture. Room 2 is much longer (top-bottom) than left-right about 2 to 1. But your numbers say the opposite.

Now if you meant "18" instead of "8" then that would jive a lot more.

Attic space is above? If so then I don't see a major problem other than the fun stuff of electric, plumbing, air vents, etc running thru the wall.

[Woodwerker]

Uh, your room sizes 11' X 8' and 11' X 6' It looks like the picture is not even close to actual. In fact no relation at all.

Since room 2 & 3 are next to each other, and "11" is the common number. That tells me that 11 goes left-right in the picture. Room 2 is much longer (top-bottom) than left-right about 2 to 1. But your numbers say the opposite.

Now if you meant "18" instead of "8" then that would jive a lot more.

Attic space is above? If so then I don't see a major problem other than the fun stuff of electric, plumbing, air vents, etc running thru the wall.

The good news is that there are no heat/ac vents, plumbing, only one outlet to be re-located. yea the pic is bad

[parnelli]

If the house comes tumbling down, I never even heard of this web site.

Website? What website? The inter-what?

[supper shaun]

I thought the rule of thumb was that you never wanted to tear down anything that was perpendicular to the joists or that has a double top plate. Thats coming from an accountant...yikes

One suggestion, and you may have done this already, but before we decided to tear down the wall between our kitchen and dining room, we talked with our real estate agent. Just a thought, but I would hate for you to do all the work and have someone tell you that you just lost some value in the home.

If you know of any links that help with the removal of the electrical outlet, I would appreciate it as this is what has held me back from starting on ours. I get the whole turn off the power part, but am not sure what to do with the wires once everything comes out and want to turn the power back on. No ac/heat issues.

Sorry if I am getting your thread away from what you were asking.

[Hellrazor]

If the joists run in the same direction as the wall you are tearing out, it isn't weight bearing.

1. Tear the wall out.
2. Deal with any electric,etc.
3. Patch the wall & ceiling.

As far as value, 3 to 2 bedroom shouldn't be a killer. If you were going 2 to 1, I would think twice about doing it.

Oh and my fault disclaimer: If the roof falls on your head, my account was hijacked

[siliconbauhaus]

How about cutting a opening into the wall and then frame it out like a double door sans door? It would be easier to put back as well.

[backpacker85]

The fact that it's a second floor wall with only attic above helps a lot.

If the ceiling joists run parallel to the wall you are going to remove, just rip it out and patch the drywall as necessary.

If the ceiling joists run perpendicular to this wall, it MAY be load bearing, but...
with a room width of 11', and only attic space above, it wouldn't be very hard to add some posts into each side wall and span the space with a shallow header.

You lose a little headroom in the area of the header, but the space is still opened up. Just a thought.

[Woodwerker]

The fact that it's a second floor wall with only attic above helps a lot.

If the ceiling joists run parallel to the wall you are going to remove, just rip it out and patch the drywall as necessary.

If the ceiling joists run perpendicular to this wall, it MAY be load bearing, but...
with a room width of 11', and only attic space above, it wouldn't be very hard to add some posts into each side wall and span the space with a shallow header.

You lose a little headroom in the area of the header, but the space is still opened up. Just a thought.

Just finished the project and I did just what you said backpacker85.
There was a pipe running to the roof, I assume this is the plumbing vent line.
It was 14" inches from the exterior wall.
I left it and dropped a stud next to it added a shallow header and framed it out like a double door.
Looks good.
THANKS for the help guys!!

[Wood_workur]

If the joists run in the same direction as the wall you are tearing out, it isn't weight bearing.

1. Tear the wall out.
2. Deal with any electric,etc.
3. Patch the wall & ceiling.

As far as value, 3 to 2 bedroom shouldn't be a killer. If you were going 2 to 1, I would think twice about doing it.

Oh and my fault disclaimer: If the roof falls on your head, my account was hijacked

I thought your sig was the disclamer??


yeah, I doubt it is load bearing. but if you see cracks in the ceiling when you remove it, run to home depot for 2x4's, not spackle...

[Hellrazor]

I thought your sig was the disclamer??

Actually that is the motto of a few of the people I work with.