Office walls.....

[mrbios]

For the more building minded of us i have a question....

 

We have two offices, one is a long thin office the other is a small box office both side by side, the wall between them is a supporting wall.

 

Is it in any way possible for us to make the offices in to one office due to this or is it impossible to move a supporting wall? (two story building) Also, if it is possible, would that be very very expensive to do?

 

I'm not the one that spends the money around here, nor am i the one that makes the decisions on what happens but i sure as hell am going to try everythign i can to get a bigger office because im sick to death of this box.

[creese]

You can still take own the wall, or part of it but it won't be cheap and you will need permission. It would need a supporting beam above the gap. You could get a free quote from a builder.

[Rydra]

You need a builder to come in and assess the building/wall.

It can be done generally speaking, as creese said by putting in a supporting beam, sometimes they will leave a pillar in as well. There are so many factors in it, that it's impossible to say wheither it would absolutely possible, and if it would be affordable.

[mrbios]

Ok, well you've given me some hope at least Cheers

 

Will see what i can do about persuading the higher powers to get a builder to assess it

[tech_guy]

Nah, just do it on the cheap. Remember we're all trying to save money now. Just use some acros if things start to sag a bit when you knock the wall down yourself.

 

[HarryMonkey]

As it's a supporting wall, you may well find that you'll need a report from a structural engineer before a builder will touch it. Edited November 4, 2010 by HarryMonkey

[philwaud]

It depends what the wall is made of. Fifty odd years ago, they use to make a skeleton construction of steel girders and then add a honeycombed wall structure, usually with lots as asbestos. You may be lucky and just have a "normal" wall.

 

Either way, you need advice, your LA will have a team that can come and let you know what to do. It may be very easy, the steel girders in our old build used to let you just cut a few beams out and patch up, very easy and we did it a few times. If its a solid wall, then it might just need a "slot" cutting so you can fit a new beam, then take the wall down below it.

 

There may be another option, think outside the box, literally! Are there any other rooms that you could use instead of these two? narrow think rooms make good store rooms/server rooms and in the longer term this might be a better idea.

 

Phil

[mrbios]

There may be another option, think outside the box, literally! Are there any other rooms that you could use instead of these two? narrow think rooms make good store rooms/server rooms and in the longer term this might be a better idea.

This is my prefered option really, as there is a nice decent sized office right next door to the reprographics room and even has a door going through between the two offices, this would be perfect as we now line manage reprographics and do things with that area etc, that office currently only has 2 people in there with desks that sit there and occasionally talk to parents about kids, they could easily be put in a smaller office in my opinion. There is also an office in another building with only 1 person in which is farrrrr too big for one person, he has a large amount of space and a huge cupboard he doesn't use. I've tried persuading the head over those two possibilities but he won't budge, though im going to keep trying.