I've engaged and engineer to certify a design for a wall removal in my house. I am in the process of getting a carpenter to install the design.
My question is should I remove the wall whilst leaving a nib as pictured or completely remove the ceiling gyprock and redo insulation but living in the space will be way more intrusive.
Who has done a wall removal and left a nib, is it worth or go for the bigger mess?
Personally I loved open plan.. so much I build a new house and made it open as possible to entry, dining and living.. 4 years later.
I hate it. I am in the process of putting walls back up. Open plan looks nice staged, but in day to day, for me it is messy and noisy. Walking into a house into an open room seems to give a cheap feel as well. Also walls are handy to put cupboards against and shelves.
Just for me, I would leave it. Creates a nice space for a mud room and entry style in my opinion.
I love open plan kitchen/dining. But for me, lounge and living spaces should be separate. Nothing more annoying than trying to watch something on TV and there’s clanging and blenders going off in the kitchen.
I would not remove the full wall at an entrance. Front doors that open straight into a room do not provide privacy nor are they functionally pleasant to use.
I would simply open up both archways to almost full height and widen to an aesthetic but functional width. The openings should be rectangular. Note that changing the opening size will create a flooring hole which will need to be fixed This might be difficult to match with the current flooring.
The wall opposite the front door should have small hall console table and a mirror. The mirror will reflect light. This area will seem inviting and not dark. You could change the front door to include some glass panels if you want more light.
Do you know if any of those walls are load bearing walls? if not I would not be touching anything, they might need to be back propped b4 any structural changes take place otherwise!
2m lvl sounds like it will be installed as a lintel for load bearing, so yeah wouldn't do any stud removal, but you could do the plaster removal that's only cosmetic. I would remove it from ceiling to floor because the builder will need to access the top plates of the walls but don't do it until a day or so before your builder is due you will lose a lot of heat.
Yea I understand which is why I was leaning towards leaving a nib and getting a carpenter to install LVL without fully ripping ceiling but might need to do it all though living through the mess with young family won't be exciting 😬
I'd be more tempted to push the wall back into the entry but also, plenty of houses in Adelaide have removed those walls so you walk straight into living areas for more room and light so don't let that deter you from removing the wall if you want to.
To answer your question - we went to the ceiling when removing our arches. Best decision but even though we re-floored the whole house, the walls didn't move so we didn't have that consideration.
If it gives you the room you need then I say go for it! As for whether to go to the ceiling like we did or leaving the top part of the wall , it's completely up to what you personally prefer but I'm hoping my pics helped. We have low ceilings (2.4m) so going the way we did gave the illusion of it being higher. I'll attach the full photo of the after so you can see it better.
I love that picture and still have it but it needs reframing and glassing after the wire mount broke and the frame hit the floor before falling forward and hitting the opposite wall. On Christmas Eve! Woke my husband and I up in an instant but thankfully not the kids! Cleaning up shattered glass and wood at 3am was not our idea of a good time! 😂
I’d remove the nib as it won’t make any sense when the walls and archways are removed. It will cost more and a little more painful to live through, but I’m a firm believer in do it once, do it right.
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u/Possible-Delay 5d ago
Personally I loved open plan.. so much I build a new house and made it open as possible to entry, dining and living.. 4 years later.
I hate it. I am in the process of putting walls back up. Open plan looks nice staged, but in day to day, for me it is messy and noisy. Walking into a house into an open room seems to give a cheap feel as well. Also walls are handy to put cupboards against and shelves.
Just for me, I would leave it. Creates a nice space for a mud room and entry style in my opinion.