And here’s the basement plan. I have absolutely no idea why the builder put in all those internal concrete walls (in black) when beams and pillars would have done just as well and left the space a lot more open. The concrete walls in the long (up-down) direction are especially unnecessary since that’s the direction of the joists. (Gray walls are 2×4 framing.)
I kinda hope they’re removable, since they’re really in the way. So is the drain/vent stack, which is right smack in the middle of that room (it apparently goes up right behind the first floor toilet). I’m hoping it can be relocated over next to the outside wall.
Ceiling heights are 6′ 7.5″ from concrete slab to bottom of joists. I’m pretty sure that since the house was built before 1979 we’d be grandfathered in if we wanted to make it into legally “habitable” space. We’d really like to be able to add a bedroom, but I’m not sure right now where we’d be able to fit it without major re-routing of utilities.
#1 by Aaron on August 13, 2009 - 5:12 pm
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So, about those walls… are they concrete block, or solid concrete.
Odds are that as long as you have sufficient support for the upper level, you can cut out any wall that doesn’t affect your load-bearing structure.
Loosely translated: If your joists are running N/S, and you leave in the supporting walls running E/W, then you can pretty much knock out all the N/S walls with impunity.
Looking at your floorplan, someone has done what looks like at least 3 majorly oddball renovations on the original house.
Do you have an architect yet?
#2 by Bryan on August 13, 2009 - 5:34 pm
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Block or concrete: Don’t know. The inspector seemed to think that there was a concrete skim coat over block, which is yet another oddity.
The joists run the long way of the house (E-W) as marked on the plan, so all the cross walls are load-bearing. I think the main E-W concrete wall in the middle of the basement is probably the footing for the load-bearing wall on the first floor (the rafters run N-S) — they don’t match up on the plans, but I probably measured wrong. If so, the only E-W concrete wall I could remove is the one under the dinette area (at the top of the plan), which isn’t supporting anything (I think).
Renovations by my count:
Like I said, people have been poking this house with a stick for the last 80 years.
No, we don’t have an architect. We’re not planning any modifications that would require one, and the house has zero historical architectural significance or character so we’re not worried about preserving any. If we start doing structural modifications, we’ll probably hire one, or an actual structural engineer.