Help professionals
Such walls bear the burden of all elements of the house design - interfloor, roof and other walls. The weakening by expanding the apertures or cutting them can weaken the load-bearing wall, which will affect the overall stability of the entire building. At best, this will lead to deformations that will cause cracks, and at worst the part or the whole building may collapse. Therefore, you need to know how to determine the load-bearing wall.
How do you know which wall is the carrier? Understanding some of the design features, you can do it yourself. However, all work with bearing walls, such as punching, transfer of openings, device niches, it is necessary to entrust exclusively to professionals. Only they can make a calculation of the bearing capacity of the wall and determine whether it is possible to perform certain operations. Self-interference in the construction poses a threat not only to your life and health, but to all the inhabitants of the house.
Important! Having decided to make a redevelopment, be sure to apply for permission in the BTI.
How do you determine if you have a bearing wall in front of you?
So, it is not recommended in this matter to listen to the advice of friends and "experts" in various forums. All the exact information can be obtained only by conducting a preliminary study of the matter and having studied the project of the building, which indicates all the necessary data.
In order to understand which walls are the most important, the following recommendations can be used:
- On the BTI building plan, these walls are usually drawn thick, and the partitions are thin lines;
- The thickness of the inner bearing walls is not the main factor, although if the thickness of the assumed bearing wall in the panel house is less than 12 centimeters, and in the brick house it is less than 25 centimeters, then it is safe to say that it is not bearing;
- You can look at slabs, they are always placed on the main supports;
- In brick houses, they are the outer inter-apartment walls separating in the middle;
- In the panel houses the situation is the same.
The final answer can only be given by the design organization that has access to the design survey and the issuance of a technical opinion. Note! It is not necessary to receive an opinion from the commission for dismantling or moving partitions.
What can you do with them?
Having received all the necessary information, you will immediately understand that there are huge difficulties with the redevelopment of the apartment. After all, the minimum thickness of the bearing wall is such that it is difficult even to hammer a nail into it, not to mention the making of openings or partial demolition. In addition, any redevelopment requires the approval of the project and obtaining a work permit.
The thickness of the bearing wall for the first two floors is 25 centimeters, and with each floor it increases. Therefore, it is not only difficult to demolish it completely, but it is also forbidden. The only thing that can be done in it is the opening, which is necessarily replaced by support posts. The cross section of these racks is determined by a special organization, which must necessarily have a license to perform such works.
Important! To apply to organizations that do not have a license for such a type of activity is not reliable, and their decision will not have a legal weight.
All of the above data do not make you a master and expert in this matter, but you can quite find out where you have the main supports, what the width of the bearing wall is and what you need to do if you want to make changes to it.