Anyone ever knock out a wall?

[Maggi315]

HI,
We have an old Victorian house with a little kitchen. We are thinking of knocking out a wall to open the area between the kitchen and the dining room. It is not a load-bearing wall, but on the other side, a small bathroom has been built (in the 1960's). Luckily, the plumbing comes out of the floor and not the wall. Our walls are reallly thick and we are not sure what we will find behind them.

Anyone ever do this? Is it expensive to hire someone? Hard to do yourself? The only part my husband would like to hire out is the electrical part.

[Throkmorton]

nope, but I'm threatening to knock out the non-load bearing wall between my gally kitchen and back door to let some light in, so I'm subscribing.

I have knocked down some walls, but we knew what was behind them. It's a great way to work out some agression.

[littlest birds]

It's basically not difficult, though intimidating to get started IME. You may find layers of sheetrock over plaster lath over very strong hardwood framing--not as easy to remove as more modern lumber. A very thick wall may actually be an old wall with new framing added when the bathroom was put in--basically resulting in two walls sandwiched together. Still, not difficult with basic tools and muscle.

My biggest concern would be dust with possible lead or other contaminants in it that would be inside the wall and then distributed--especially next to the kitchen that you use on a daily basis.

Take care to romove molding and cut edges, such as ceiling joints, if you do not want the wall demolition to pull off chunks of ceiling. Although you may "knock" through the sheetrock or plaster/lath you will spend more time taking apart framing piece by piece. I would be prepared with tools to cut nails in the framing (a simple hacksaw may be adequate), because sometimes prying or knocking out some pieces doesn't work well, or affects adjacent parts that you don't want to damage so cutting things away then works better.

I don't know much about hiring someone to do it, but it does seem like it would be a quick job and require no new materials so it would just be labor and not too much of that. I'd look for someone who has experience effectively containing the potentially toxic materials that are often found in older houses (lead was not only used in paints, but sometimes as an ingredient in plaster).

Think ahead about what to do with any gaps in flooring and ceiling materials you will create. Are you redoing the kitchen after the wall is out?

[Maggi315]

Thanks! That's alot of information. Yes, we are planning on redoing the kitchen, basically turning it sideways from how it is now. And redoing the floor in both rooms.

I guess we will be surprised when the wall comes out. The house was built in 1870 or maybe before, and the walls are twice as thick as normal. In some walls we know there is horsehair plaster.

We will not be staying here while the walls come out. The kids and I have asthma, so we will close up the kitchen (have to move the appliances anyway, they are against that wall) and use our second floor which has another kitchen in it. (Long story, but when we bought place, it was in apartments and we kept it so we could convert back if we wanted). Plus, during the worst part, we'll stay at a hotel or something for a few days.

I'm excited about opening it up. With 5 kids we definitely could use more room in the kitchen. Our table is huge and takes up the entire 1/2 of the kitchen. It sets 6-8 normally and opens up to seat 12-14. Its perfect for us, but too big for the space.

I'll let everyone know what the contractor says tomorrow.

[momto l&a]

A sawzall (sp?) is a really handy thing to have it cuts through nails and whatever you need to take out a wall.

We took out a non-load bearing wall leaving the sheet rock on the hallway side to put pocket doors in our bedroom. Came out perfect.

Dh and I hadnt done something like this and we did everything except the carpetting in our room.

[Irishmommy]

No, but it's a fantasy!! I love my crowbar and sledgehammer!!!!

[Amys1st]

We did the exact thing. We took out the wall between the dining room and kitchen. Wow what a difference. We had a smal small kitchen before. We then expanded our counter space and put in double door cabinets so we can get to the stuff from both sides and cut traffic out. We still have the same amount of space but it also appears larger.

before-just a dining room wall and a one butt kitchen

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/DSCF0008.jpg

during:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/DSCF0012.jpg

after

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...s1st/DSCF4.jpg

we painted the kitchen area a light jade color, added a tile backsplash, new cabinet, new light over table, larger piece of corian countertop. We are diyers so this was not an expensive thing for us. DH made the cabinet (he wood works for a hobby) and someone had leftover corian that we took so that was free. The light is from Lowes.

[Maggi315]

Thanks for the photos! It looks great! We are DIYers too and will be doing most of the kitchen remodeling, painting, flooring, etc. ourselves.

[Amys1st]

Barb- thanks! But yes the photos can be time deceiving. We took out the wall in Aug of 2004. We had most work done by late Sept. The tile backsplash came in Nov and the light was put up in Jan of this year.
The difference is tremendous and we say that at least once a week.

As most diyers know, this takes time and its not like on those shows where its done in 30 minutes!

Now that our house is done, we are getting ready to sell it to make room for our ever expanding family. We have at least 18 mos before we have to move but we will eventually need more room.

[Maggi315]

So the contractor came out today. Our house is very old and very thick and solid so it took a bit to figure out which walls were original, which were brick, which were stone, etc. This wall is load-bearing, at least part of it, but he says he can still take it out and replace with a steel beam header. Not sure what that is, I'll have to look that up. Otherwise, he says it won't be too complicated, just alot of work. We also have a small bathroom that needs taken out that is on the wall and of course removing all the appliances and counters. Whew, makes me tired just thinking of it! Not sure how much he is charging, he will send us an estimate next week.

[nitareality]

We did this on a load bearing wall. We rented the jacks to hold up the house ourselves, which saved a little bit of $$ and then hired a contractor to work on anything having to do with installing the new header. We did all the tear-down work and we did the repair and drywalling afterwards. It saved us a ton and made a huge difference in our room.