Under my ground floor I have a very deep void (2 - 3m). The space is
however divided by 2 walls running parallel to the front of the house
under each of the rooms. The walls obviously support the floor joists
at 1/3 and 2/3 of their length, but could they have any other
structural purpose. The house is end of terrace. I'm thinking about
using the space under the floor and it would be much more usefull if
the walls could be replaced with rsjs etc. Any ideas?

pmlavers@hotmail.com wrote:

> Under my ground floor I have a very deep void (2 - 3m). The space is
> however divided by 2 walls running parallel to the front of the house
> under each of the rooms. The walls obviously support the floor joists
> at 1/3 and 2/3 of their length, but could they have any other
> structural purpose. The house is end of terrace. I'm thinking about
> using the space under the floor and it would be much more usefull if
> the walls could be replaced with rsjs etc. Any ideas?


The walls are there mainly to spread the load of the joists - if they
are of a more typical size of 0.5m or so.
However, in your case I would be concerned about a secondary function
being to support the void, to stop it collapsing.
Can you confirm tha the void is entirely above ground?
Would leaving 2m 'stubs' of the mainly removed walls (to provide
bracing for the wall if needed) be a problem?

(I am not a structural engineer, if you house falls down as a result of
actions taken in this post, I reserve the right to point and laugh)

In article ,  
wrote:

> Under my ground floor I have a very deep void (2 - 3m). The space is
> however divided by 2 walls running parallel to the front of the house
> under each of the rooms. The walls obviously support the floor joists
> at 1/3 and 2/3 of their length, but could they have any other
> structural purpose.


Sleeper walls. They don't generally have any other purpose if there are 
no partitions over.

-- 
Tony Bryer SDA UK  'Software to build on'  http://www.sda.co.uk
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The void is largely below ground level. Completely subteranean at the
front to about 1 meter above ground at the rear. The house was built
with a basement below the rear kitchen addition but just a deep void
below the living room and dining room. I'm thinking about extending the
basement under the dining room, but would need to remove the dwarf
walls in order to open up the space.

In article , 
pmlavers@hotmail.com says...

> The void is largely below ground level. Completely subteranean at the
> front to about 1 meter above ground at the rear. The house was built
> with a basement below the rear kitchen addition but just a deep void
> below the living room and dining room. I'm thinking about extending the
> basement under the dining room, but would need to remove the dwarf
> walls in order to open up the space.
> 

They might be buttressing the front wall, in which case you can probably 
only partly remove them.

On 20 Sep 2005 01:54:45 -0700, pmlavers@hotmail.com wrote:


>Under my ground floor I have a very deep void (2 - 3m). The space is
>however divided by 2 walls running parallel to the front of the house
>under each of the rooms. The walls obviously support the floor joists
>at 1/3 and 2/3 of their length, but could they have any other
>structural purpose. The house is end of terrace. I'm thinking about
>using the space under the floor and it would be much more usefull if
>the walls could be replaced with rsjs etc. Any ideas?


Jobs for a strutrial engineer.

Rick

Rick wrote:

> Jobs for a strutrial engineer.


You've the same problem as I, & it conmes in a bottel.