knocking out living room wall Post Reply

[alapala]

We have a classic victorian house with double front reception. The family is growing and I want to have the side wall of the dining room part knocked out to make it all more open plan (ie the wall bet' the Dining Room and the corridor and stairs). Has anyone done this? Any recommendations? Thanks!

[schoolgatesmum]

We had this in a previous house we lived in and it was great having the open space. However, I've been told that it wouldn't comply with current building regulations - something to do with fire safety. If you contact the planning department at the council they should be able to advise you.

[rcourtney]

I believe it to be against building regs if you have a loft conversion.

[alapala]

Oh dear, we do have a loft conversion, I hope my plans won't be shot to bits!

[dandelion53]

when we had our loft done, we were told you have to have a route from top of house to exit door, usually your front door, where all the doors can be shut to provide a safe corridor.

[tertiadesigns]

hi:

you can probably meet the building regs by knocking out the portion of the wall you want opened up, but installing pocket doors so that the corridor can be a safe fire exit when they are closed (i.e. at night)

this however can be expensive, as the pocket doors will need to meet all fire codes and the wall that they need to disappear into will need to be a bespoke build.

not impossible however, to get the look you want.

good luck

tertia

tertia designs the studio house 165 battersea rise london sw11 1hp

[marypoppins]

When I wanted to make some changes to a previous house I got information from the planning department about what I might be able to do. If it's a supporting wall you will need to put in lintles to take the weight but it's not very expensive to do. If you want sliding doors like the previous poster suggested look at getting them from abroad- can sometimes be cheaper.(Try Leroy Merlin or Lapeyre in france).

[alapala]

thanks for all these ideas. I'll get some builders in after Xmas to have a look!

[homejane]

Hi Alapala,

We could do this for you! Just contact us to arrange a free quote

Kind Regards (http://www.home-jane.co.uk)

Jo

[FTSELYNDSEY]

Hi,

We had a couple of walls taken down just before Christmas.

I wasn't really aware of regulations or lintels, i just wanted the rooms to be how i wanted them.

My husband had a recommendation and they were great, sorted all the paperwork out for us then got all the works done in time for Christmas so I could show it all off.
Details were Daniel 07854 369 480.

L
x
let them know i passed his number on as they doing my windows in the spring and ill try get a discount

[rcourtney]

Other option is to crack on with the removal of the wall without building regs.

If you ever want to sell your house you could just purchase an indemnity policy against lack of building regs (about 250 GBp)

Guess it depends if you are happy to have to work done without building regs.

[agapa]

would be interested in speaking to anyone had loft converted and put in new fireproof partition wall on ground floor to comply with building regs? we have just had ours done but am concerned about impact on valuation when we sell/let!

[juliantenniscoach]

We have a completely open plan ground floor victorian semi with a loft conversion. Firstly don't knock walls in and apply retrospectively - why? Because you're no longer insured - big mistake.

You can comply in a variety of way with fire exits out of windows or 'boxing in' the stairwell. We did it by installing a sprinkler system that covers the ground floor. It's £2K+ but it complies, your insurance is cheaper and you sleep very well at night.

Wandsworth Planning were very helpful and the regs are easy to follow and you can download them from Wandsworth.

Best of luck!