Bearing walls in a brick five-story building. Definition of the load-bearing wall in the apartment

Before the start overhaul, which involves making changes to the layout of the apartment, you need to identify the load-bearing walls. By law, such building structures are prohibited from dismantling, as it reduces the reliability and durability of the building. A preliminary determination of the load-bearing structures of the apartment will save the owner from many problems with state bodies that control compliance with the current building codes and rules.

How to identify all load-bearing walls in your apartment?

Khrushchev and panel houses have load-bearing walls and thin interior partitions. Only non-bearing structures can be dismantled to combine the premises, work with which will not lead to emergencies dangerous for the users of the building. The need to dismantle and transfer partitions arises quite often, the reason for this inconvenient location rooms in old apartment buildings and their small size... Simply put, the rooms are too small for comfortable living for people, and their demolition allows you to free up additional usable space.

But not a single load-bearing wall should be destroyed during the renovation. Such partitions perform very important functions in the house - they take on the weight of the higher ones. building structures building. If the load-bearing wall cannot withstand all the load it receives, it will begin to collapse, which can ultimately lead to the collapse of entire sections of the house and loss of life.

So that the repair does not lead to such negative consequences and it is required to first find out which walls can be dismantled and which cannot. There are two main ways to identify important structural elements of a building:

1. 1. Contacting the BTI. In the Bureau of Technical Inventory, the registration certificate of each house is kept.
2. 2. Independent determination of the functions of partitions. If there is no time to visit the BTI, you can carry out special surveys in the apartment on your own to determine the load-bearing walls.

Search for load-bearing partitions in a panel house

V panel house, as in any other, it is easiest to determine the purpose of internal structural elements using the technical passport of the apartment. If for some reason you do not have technical documentation, a load-bearing wall can be identified by a number of important signs. The first thing to look for when examining the septum is its thickness. In panel houses, load-bearing walls are always much thicker than ordinary interior partitions.

By building regulations minimum thickness the load-bearing partition in a panel house must be at least 12 cm.This is a pure size, excluding facing materials on the wall, of which there can be quite a lot (plaster, wallpaper, paint, etc.). Interior partitions that do not perform load-bearing functions have a thickness of 8-10 cm (excluding finishing).

That is, to determine the load-bearing walls, everything must be measured, having previously cleared them of facing materials. Only after determining can you start planning a major overhaul by choosing suitable ways, means and solutions for the restructuring of a residential building.

When making measurements, it should be borne in mind that all walls in old nine-story panel houses consist of panels, and therefore very many of them have load-bearing functions, which makes it impossible to dismantle them. It is forbidden to carry out many works with load-bearing walls, in addition to dismantling - to create door and window openings in them without obtaining appropriate permits from the responsible authorities, and even to cut them to install communications.

What walls can be dismantled in Khrushchev?

In Khrushchev, it is quite simple to determine the purpose of the walls. To do this, you can use the technical passport of the residential building, and if it is not there, take special measurements. All Khrushchev buildings are characterized by the same layout, and the supporting structures in them are usually only those that separate the apartment from other apartments, staircase and streets, and all internal partitions simply separate the rooms and they can be safely dismantled.

However, you do not need to start dismantling work right away, it is recommended that you first take measurements and find out the thickness of all interior walls... In Khrushchev, the load-bearing wall always has a thickness of more than 12 cm without finishing layers. If the wall cleared of cladding is thicker than 12 cm, you can demolish it without fear of negative consequences.

The wall separating the apartment and the balcony usually does not perform any load-bearing functions in Khrushchev. But it is still forbidden to dismantle it. The balcony is a cold area and the wall separating it from the apartment is needed to conserve heat. If it is demolished, the apartment will be poorly protected from external weather conditions, which is why it is currently impossible to obtain permission to combine a room with a balcony from the housing inspectorate, with which the redevelopment is being coordinated.

You can also learn about the ability to move and disassemble the wall by drilling. In Khrushchevs, the bearing walls are very strong and to create holes in them, sometimes you have to change the drills one by one. Practically no effort is needed to create a hole in a curtain wall, the drill goes through very easily.

Determination of the purpose of the wall according to the plans of the apartment

It is believed that a load-bearing wall in any apartment can be easily found with the help of technical documentation, for example, a floor plan. apartment building... This is true, but in order to determine the functions of internal partitions, it is necessary to be able to work with project documentation, understand conventions, read diagrams, etc.

Unfortunately, there is no one generally accepted designation of load-bearing walls on plans, which would be used by all design companies, developers and other organizations, therefore the owner often has to sit for a long time over the received drawings before he can find out which wall is load-bearing and which is not.

On the architectural and construction plans of the working project for the construction of an apartment building, load-bearing walls are usually highlighted with special shading. On the plans from the BTI, such structures are indicated with a greater thickness than simple interior partitions, but not always. It is not uncommon when on the plans of old houses the wall is indicated by a thin line, but in reality it is a load-bearing one.

Owners are strongly discouraged from trying to measure the walls or data from the data sheet based on the results obtained. It is better to play it safe, order house documentation from the BTI and entrust the task of assessing the redevelopment possibilities to professional designers.

Rules for dismantling internal partitions

Redevelopment is considered by modern legislation as a major, complex and responsible repair, which, if performed incorrectly, can cause a lot of harm. apartment building and its inhabitants. That is why the Housing Code describes in detail correct procedure redevelopment, which cannot be deviated from in any case.

The procedure stipulated by the legislation presupposes preliminary design of capital repairs and approval of the developed project documentation with the housing inspectorate or the local administration of the settlement. In order for the project to successfully pass approval, it should be ordered from professional designers, whose qualifications are confirmed by SRO approvals and licenses from state regulatory bodies.

For approval, the MFC must submit a package of documents, which includes:

• an application from the owner of the apartment for redevelopment;
• redevelopment project;
• technical opinion from designers on the possibility and safety of overhaul;
• certificate of ownership;
• consent of the people registered in the apartment for overhaul.

These documents will be transferred from the MFC to the responsible authority for approval, after which they will be reviewed within 45 days and the owner will receive a notification whether he is allowed to carry out redevelopment. If the housing inspectorate considers that the planned repairs may negatively affect the building, the owner will be prohibited from implementing the project documentation.

It is not worth ignoring the requirements of the legislation on the need to agree on a major overhaul. If you carry out redevelopment without the appropriate permits, you can not only violate the integrity of the house and endanger your own and other people's health, but also receive an order from the housing inspection requiring you to pay a fine established by law (up to 2500 rubles for individuals) and return the home to its original layout, which will have to spend an impressive amount of money.

If you decide to carry out redevelopment in your apartment related to the unification of premises, you must first understand whether the walls affected by this are load-bearing. Doorways in load-bearing walls must be coordinated with the supervisory authorities on the redevelopment project with the execution of a technical opinion from the author of the house project.

Demolition of the load-bearing wall or part of it is strictly prohibited, since it violates the power scheme of the building and threatens with cracks or even collapse due to improper redistribution of loads.

At the same time, the dismantling of non-load-bearing interior partitions does not threaten the safety of the house and its residents, and therefore can in most cases be agreed with the Moscow Housing Inspection on a simple redevelopment sketch.

Based on the above, we see that without clarifying for yourself whether the bearing wall is or not, it is better not to start redevelopment ... However, this does not stop many owners. So, on various Internet portals for design and repair, many examples of redevelopments have been posted, where designers "do what they want" with load-bearing walls, not taking into account all the consequences of such repairs.

As a result, the customer receives an illegal redevelopment, neighbors - cracks in the ceiling, and the inspector, who, on their complaint, visits a "bad" apartment - a reason to issue an order to return the premises to their original or agreed state.

Below we have tried to provide information with which you will most likely be able to determine which walls are load-bearing and which are not in your apartment, and depending on this, carry out repairs in the future without violating the law and building codes.

Bearing walls in a panel house

Panel typical houses of various series - the most common type of housing in Moscow. This view apartment buildings, unfortunately, does not allow many planning solutions to be implemented. The fact is that most of the intra-apartment walls in panel houses are load-bearing, and many circumstances can interfere with the arrangement of openings in them, such as the floor of the apartment, the general structure of this series, or the condition of the house.

Panel house series P-3, photo:

So, how to understand which walls are load-bearing in a panel house? The easiest way is to measure the thickness of the desired wall.

• For partitions, this parameter is usually from 80 to 100 mm.
• The thickness of the load-bearing walls ranges from 140 to 200 mm
• Interior partitions in 90% panel houses these are gypsum concrete panels 80 mm thick
• Internal load-bearing walls are reinforced concrete panels with a thickness of 140, 160, 180 and 200 mm. In some old series of panel houses, load-bearing walls of 120mm are also found.

Accordingly, this means that if the wall thickness is less than 120mm, then this is a non-bearing partition, and if it is more, then it is a bearing wall.

It should be noted that the thickness of the wall must be measured in "pure form", that is, do not take into account the finishing layers (plaster, wallpaper), and for the purity of measurements, the plaster layer must either be removed in several places, or pre-measured and subsequently subtracted from the wall thickness.

In "borderline" cases, it is better to rely on the opinion of the engineers of the design institute, the author of the house of your series, where you or your chosen intermediaries, apply for a technical conclusion on redevelopment. In any case, it is the TK that will give the final answer on the redevelopment of the bearing walls.

Example: technical conclusion of the State Unitary Enterprise MNIITEP - an institute that is the author of 90 percent of panel houses in Moscow.

Load-bearing walls in brick houses

Load-bearing walls in monolithic houses

For monolithic houses the most exact way define load-bearing wall- take an architectural floor plan from the management company. Due to the variety of individual design solutions, without the appropriate documentation, it is quite difficult to determine whether a particular wall is a load-bearing wall. V monolithic buildings can be found both load-bearing walls and columns, pylons (columns rectangular section). Monolithic frame houses may not have load-bearing walls at all.

Non-bearing brick partitions in a monolithic house:

Thickness of internal walls and pylons in monolithic houses is usually 200, 250 and 300mm, therefore, if the wall affected by the redevelopment is less than 200mm, then this is an ordinary partition. But in some cases, the partition can be more than 200 mm (if it is made of foam blocks).

When a house is built, it has both load-bearing and non-load-bearing walls. The difference between them, as you understand, is that some of them are responsible for supporting the entire structural weight of the structure, while others, the so-called "curtain" or "curtain walls", are used exclusively to divide rooms into rooms and nothing support. Before making any changes to the walls of your home, it is important to be very sure which walls are and which are not load-bearing, as demolition or changes in load-bearing walls can affect the structural stability of your home with potentially catastrophic consequences. Start with Step 1 below to begin your search for load-bearing walls in your home.

Steps

Part 1

Start at the lowest point of your home. To determine which walls in your home are load-bearing, it is best to start where the main load is applied, from the most basic part of your home - from the foundation. If your home has a basement, start here. If not, try starting from the first floor, where you can locate the lowest concrete "slab".

• When you are at the very bottom of your building, look at the walls, the beam system of which rests directly on the foundation. The load-bearing walls of your home transfer the tension of their structure to a durable concrete foundation, so any walls that are located directly on the foundation must be considered load-bearing and cannot be demolished.
• Besides, external walls houses in most houses are load-bearing. You can see this at the level of the foundation - whether they are made of wood, stone or brick, almost all of the outer walls rest directly on the foundation.

1. Determine the location of the beam system. Look for thick, sturdy wood or metal posts called beams... They carry most of the load on your home, transferring it to the foundation. Beams often stretch across many floors and therefore can be part of multiple walls. If your beam extends from the foundation inside any wall above it, that wall must be considered load-bearing and must not be demolished.

   • Except for rooms that are not yet finished, most of the beams will be behind the trim. So be prepared to check the construction documents or contact the builder if you cannot find one. The easiest way to find beams is in the basement or attic, where they are not covered.

2. Look for floor beams (floor beams). Look at the point where the beam meets the ceiling (if you are in the basement, this will be under the first floor of your house. If you are on the first floor, this will be the bottom of the second floor). You should see long supports running the entire length of the ceiling, which are called floor transoms because they support the floor of the room above you. If any such crossbar meets a wall or main load-bearing beam at a right angle, it transfers the weight of the upper floor to the wall, which means that the wall is load-bearing and, accordingly, cannot be demolished.

   • Again, due to the fact that most of the beams supporting the walls are covered with trim, they will not be visible. To determine if any interfloor beams perpendicular to a particular wall, you may need to remove some of the floorboards one floor above the wall to see way down on their supports.

3. View the interior walls of the entire structure. Starting in the basement (or, if you don't have one, on the first floor), locate the inner walls, which, as you might have guessed, are the walls within the boundaries of your four outer walls. Trace each interior wall across all floors of your home - in other words, pinpoint where the wall is in relation to the bottom floor, then go upstairs to see if the wall goes through two floors. Pay attention to what is directly above the wall. If there is another wall on top, a floor with perpendicular beams, or another heavy structure, then it is probably a load-bearing wall.

   • However, if there is an unfinished room, for example, an empty attic, and not an entire floor, most likely the wall is not heavily loaded.

4. Check the interior walls around the center of the house. How more house, the further apart its load-bearing walls will be, and therefore the more internal load-bearing walls you will need to support the floor. Often these internal load-bearing walls are located approximately in the center of the house, as this is the farthest point from any of its external walls. Look for an interior wall that is close to the approximate center of your home. There is a high probability that the wall is load-bearing, especially if it is parallel to the central beams supporting the basement vault.

   Look for interior walls with massive edges. Internal load-bearing walls can contain the main beams that support the house. However, due to the fact that the support beams are relatively large in cross-section, in comparison with unloaded beams, often the wall itself will be designed so that the dimensions of the beams will protrude from it. If the inner wall has a large rectangular section or columns protruding beyond its plane at the ends, large supporting beams supporting the building structure can be hidden in them, that is, these are signs of a load-bearing wall.

   Look for steel girders or pile joists. Sometimes, rather than relying on load-bearing internal walls, builders use special load-bearing structures, such as steel support beams and pile-and-beam structures, in order to transfer some of the building's weight to the external walls. In these cases, there is a chance (but not guarantee) that the nearest internal walls will not be load-bearing. Look for signs of large, sturdy wooden or metal structures that cross the ceiling of a room and extend onto a wall known to be load-bearing or external, such as volumetric horizontal protrusions that cross the ceiling. If you see them, the nearest inner walls may not be carriers.

   • This method can tell you where curtain walls might be, but you can't be sure without checking the walls themselves. If you are unsure, ask the builder to be sure the house was designed this way.

5. Look for signs that the house has been remodeled. Many houses, especially old ones, have been changed, expanded and rebuilt several times. If this applies to your home, the former outer wall can now be the inner wall. If so, the innocent-looking interior wall could be the load-bearing structure for the original structure. If you have any reason to believe that your home has been seriously altered, the best choice will contact the builder who did it, just to make sure your exterior walls really external walls.

   Part 2

   Explore your building

   1. Find the original floor plans if you can access them. Depending on the design of your home, it may be impossible to guess exactly which walls are load-bearing and which are not. In this case, the original drawings or construction plans can be a valuable source. House drawings can tell you where the supporting beams are located, which walls were originally external, and so on. You can use this information to make an informed decision when it comes to structural designation of certain walls.

      • It's not uncommon for a homeowner to own a copy of the original blueprints for their home. Fortunately, you can find them:
        • In the office of the relevant official structures (for example, BTI)
        • For former owners
        • From the original builder and / or contractor
      • After all, you can pay an architect to sketch the blueprints for your house. It can be expensive though.

   2. Examine your blueprints. Get hold of the original blueprints for your home and invest the appropriate time to determine if it really is a load-bearing wall that you are not sure about. Look for the landmarks listed above to see if it contains structural load-bearing beam? Are the floor ledgers connected parallel to it? Was she originally outside wall? Never break the integrity of a wall if you are not completely sure that it is not load-bearing, as even expensive, experienced home remodeling experts cannot tell from a visual inspection alone. For more detailed instructions read the wikiHow article How to Read Architectural Drawings.

   3. Understand the implications of the changes you make to the building. Usually, the more new things have been introduced into your home design, the more difficult it is to tell which walls are load-bearing and which are not. During house renovation, non-load bearing walls can be made load-bearing (and vice versa). For example, lengthening or trimming ceiling beams, adding stairs, living rooms in the attic, as a rule, makes the walls of non-load-bearing load-bearing ones. Take these changes into account when deciding which walls you have supporting: if your drawings show walls that do not exist, or you see walls that were not in the original drawing, you need to find out what changes were made before making your changes.

      • If you are unsure of the history of your home's remodeling, contact the past owner and builders for more information.

Many are faced with the desire to make some adjustments to the existing apartment project. And here the question arises - which walls are load-bearing, and which are ordinary partitions.

Let's get it clear right away, what is a load-bearing wall? This is a wall on which structural elements are supported, which are located on subsequent floors. And what is remarkable, load-bearing walls can be replaced by beams and columns, as they perform the same function - to support the integrity of the entire structure.

If the redevelopment is incorrectly carried out and the bearing wall is demolished, it is fraught big problems- starting with cracks in the structure and ending with the collapse of floors. In order to correctly rebuild your apartment, you need to know in advance which walls can be demolished during redevelopment, and which cannot.

Correct, competent and safe redevelopment can only be carried out by professionals - engineers and builders. Regardless of the scale of reconstruction, whether it is a small niche in the wall or the demolition of an entire wall.
Therefore, the first thing that is done before planning is that specialists from the BTI are invited, who must give you permission for redevelopment, in which all walls that can be changed or demolished will already be marked. And only after that you can discuss the intricacies of redevelopment with builders and architects.

In addition, if you receive all permits before starting work, there is a chance not to put this issue on the back burner. After all, apartments with illegal redevelopment cannot be sold, and if such a need suddenly arises, it is quite difficult and problematic to legitimize a ready-made alteration. But if you are interested in knowing about the gradation of walls in the apartment before the official verdict, we will tell you a few simple ways how to do it yourself.

Methods for defining load-bearing walls

So, the first, the simplest and most accurate - to find the structural plan of the house, which is kept in the capital construction department, which is located in the city Executive Committee, aka the Executive Committee. There is also a technical passport for an apartment, which all apartment owners have, but you can only understand it if you know how to read construction drawings.

If you could not get a plan, then you can try to determine the load-bearing wall by its thickness and location.

Wall thickness

V brick house- all walls thicker than 38 cm are load-bearing. The thickness of the walls in such houses is determined by the number of bricks laid out in a row. One brick - 12 cm., So simple arithmetic works: 250 mm is a wall of two bricks + a seam between them is 10 mm. 380 mm is a wall of three bricks + 2 seams of 10 mm. 510 mm is a wall of four bricks + 3 seams of 10 mm. 640 mm is a wall of five bricks + 4 seams of 10 mm. etc. Interior partitions are made of bricks or concrete blocks and are 12 to 18 cm thick. The walls between the apartments are slightly thicker - 25cm.

In the panel - all walls, thicker than 14 cm - load-bearing. Unfortunately, in these types of houses it is very difficult to realize all your ideas, since most of the walls in such houses are load-bearing. Partitions in panel houses are much thinner than load-bearing walls - only 8-10 cm. There is also a nuance - the thickness of the bearing walls in panel houses can be 12 cm, it depends on the series of the house. And what should be done? Consider such a wall as a thickened partition, or load-bearing wall? The final answer will only be given to you by an engineer in the relevant organization, which issues an opinion on the terms of reference for your project.

Wall thickness is measured excluding plaster and wallpaper. So it is better to take measurements after clearing all the walls from the old finish.

In monolithic houses - a wall thicker than 20 cm - load-bearing. Most the right way for such houses - take the floor plan from the developer. Since now there is a huge variety of design solutions, in such houses it can be very difficult to determine the load-bearing wall simply by its thickness. For example, in a monolithic-frame house, there may be no load-bearing walls at all. And there are times when simple partition thicker than 20cm. So only an architectural plan can clarify this issue.

By location

The outer walls make up the “building box” and are load-bearing. Structural walls also include walls that face flight of stairs and interior walls that face the neighboring apartment.

So, when you managed to identify the load-bearing walls in the apartment, and it turned out that it is them that you need to change, remember: you cannot completely remove the load-bearing wall, leaving the upper floors unsupported. You can remove only a small part of it, and place metal retaining structures in the resulting opening, which can then be easily hidden under false beams. Or, when removing an entire wall, you need to provide reliable support with posts or columns. The thickness and location of which only specialists will be able to determine for you during the issuance of permission to rebuild the apartment.

Remember! It is very important not to neglect the opinion of professionals during redevelopment and not to engage in amateur performances, which can be fraught with consequences, not only for your apartment, but also for the apartments around you.

Today, very often, when creating an interior design, they resort to redevelopment of the premises. For redevelopment, it is necessary to determine the load-bearing walls and additional partitions located in the apartment. In some rooms, the definition of such walls does not require much effort, in others it can cause certain difficulties. Today, in almost all apartments, load-bearing walls are used in construction, although in some buildings they can be replaced by beams and columns. One of the most affordable and easy ways to determine the load-bearing walls is the initial inspection of the apartment plan, which can be found in the data sheet. On the plan, such walls are clearly marked, often they have a certain shading, and their thickness is much greater than the thickness of other partitions. Bearing walls have certain characteristics.

How to determine the load-bearing wall or not?

To determine the load-bearing walls, it is imperative to use the plan. In case of redevelopment, you must contact the specialists for permission to dismantle the partitions.

Even if you plan to move the doorway, you need to have certain documents that must be provided by employees of the BTI or other relevant government agencies... If an unlawful redevelopment is made in the apartment, it becomes impossible to sell it, and getting permission for redevelopment after its implementation is quite problematic.

Any work with walls should be treated with full responsibility, because even the slightest crack in the load-bearing wall can affect the entire structure of the building. Carrying out work with load-bearing walls With load-bearing walls, it is possible to carry out some work, however, any actions should be carried out exclusively by competent specialists.

Is it possible to determine the load-bearing wall according to the documents or not?

Important

The structural plan will help to detect not only the load-bearing walls in the house, but also the columns and beams of the post-and-beam system, as well as the floor slabs that rest on them. If for some reason you could not get the structural plan of the building, then we will determine the walls by their characteristic features.

Again, one can use detailed plan apartment, which is drawn in the data sheet or in the house book. But in this case, you will be able to determine the load-bearing walls only if you are not a beginner in construction and planning.

How to identify a load-bearing wall? Which walls are load-bearing can be recognized by: 1. By location. Outdoor self-supporting walls... Walls overlooking the stairwell. Internal walls facing the neighboring apartments.

2. By thickness and materials used.

Legend on bti plans

A wall can be marked with a thin line and at the same time be a load-bearing. Determination of load-bearing walls by thickness The second way to find out which wall is load-bearing, by its location and thickness.

Bearing walls in a brick house The thickness of the walls in brick houses is a multiple of the size of the brick (120 mm), plus the thickness of the mortar joint (10 mm), if there is more than one masonry. Respectively, brick walls can be 120, 250, 380, 520, 640 mm thick, etc.

Mostly in brick residential buildings internal partitions are made of bricks or gypsum concrete panels 80 or 120 mm thick. Dividing walls with a thickness of 250 mm in brick or 200 mm in double panels with an air gap.

Attention

Bearing walls in a brick house have a thickness of 380 mm. Majority brick houses built according to the standard series - these are the so-called "Stalin" and "Khrushchev".

How to identify a load-bearing wall

Representatives of authorized organizations, engineers licensed for this construction activity should monitor the process and carry out calculations of such columns. Note! An apartment with illegal redevelopment cannot be sold, and it will be very difficult and problematic to get a project of an already converted apartment.

Do not think that the planned work is insignificant, and it is not worth calling the team. The slightest mistake can cost the lives of many people, because an imperceptible microcrack in the load-bearing wall can eventually lead to the collapse of the building.
Work carried out on load-bearing walls Installing a support during demolition of a load-bearing wall When deciding to carry out work on load-bearing walls, for example, ditching ditches, do it with the utmost care.

Bearing wall in the house - how to determine which walls are bearing?

The thickness of the load-bearing wall can be: Brick load-bearing walls, the thickness of which is more than 38 centimeters. Reinforced concrete panels in panel houses, the thickness of which is not less than 14-20 centimeters. If the house is monolithic, then any wall with a thickness of 20-30 centimeters or more will be considered load-bearing.
3.

By supporting floor slabs and beams. All load-bearing walls should be strictly perpendicular in the arrangement of floor slabs. That is, the slabs should rest on the walls with the short side.

Openings in load-bearing walls After you determine which walls are load-bearing, you will realize all the limitations associated with future redevelopment. Such a wall will not allow you to drive in even an ordinary nail under the picture.
And there is no need to talk about the arrangement of openings, niches, arches and partial demolition.

How to know the load-bearing wall or not

Both of these types have similar Constructive decisions and are made in the form of three longitudinal load-bearing and transverse walls, which support the longitudinal and, in general, are also load-bearing. Also, the bearing walls are the walls on which the floor slabs are supported (short side). These are usually longitudinal load-bearing walls. There is an option when the floor slab rests on reinforced concrete beam rectangular section. Which, in turn, rests on load-bearing walls or brick pillars... Under the beams, inter-room or inter-apartment partitions are usually installed. Load-bearing walls in a panel house In panel houses, the thickness of internal partitions ranges from 80 mm to 120 mm, made of gypsum concrete panels.

And, the internal load-bearing walls are reinforced concrete panels with a thickness of 140, 180 or 200 mm. External load-bearing walls in a panel house have a thickness of 200 mm.

How to identify load-bearing walls in a room

Bearing wall in the house - how to determine which walls are bearing? People who are going to redevelop an apartment or house must definitely find out which walls in their home are load-bearing. It is quite simple to determine this on your own, the main thing is to know exactly how to do it.

And in this article I will definitely teach you this. Note that design features every professional interior designer must know a house or apartment. If he does not even know how to recognize which walls in the apartment are load-bearing, then this is no longer an interior designer, but an ordinary decorator.

Before we start considering our question, I want to acquaint you with the concept of "load-bearing wall". So, the load-bearing wall is the one that takes on the load of the elements located above it, including beams, floor slabs and walls. Load-bearing walls are not always used in the interior.

How to find out which walls in the apartment are load-bearing?

If there are sockets or switches on the wall, remember that wiring is hidden inside the wall, which, if the room is not de-energized, can damage the power supply system and cause injury to the worker. If the house is old, there may even be a gas pipe in the wall.

Work carefully and, if possible, use a project where all these nuances are noted. Note! Never forget that you cannot demolish a load-bearing wall, leaving the floor unsupported.

If professional skills allow you to undertake partial removal of the wall, do not forget to place a support in the resulting opening, which can eventually be hidden with false beams.
Most often these are single-layer panels made of expanded clay concrete with a thickness of 300-350 mm or multi-layer panels consisting of two reinforced concrete panels with a thickness of 60 mm (external) and 80-100 mm (internal), separated by insulation. As a result, load-bearing walls in a panel house have a thickness of 120 mm.

Load-bearing walls in a monolithic building With load-bearing walls in a monolithic building, not everything is clear. It is not always possible to determine them. In addition, they may not exist (for example, in monolithic-frame buildings).

In residential monolithic buildings, there are various designs... Such as monolithic load-bearing walls, columns, pylons, beams, etc.

The standard thickness of walls and pylons is 200, 250, 300 mm. The diameter of the bearing columns can be over 300 mm. The thickness of the internal walls, usually made of aerated concrete blocks, ranges from 200 mm.

Thus, the thickness of the non-load-bearing partitions is less than 200 mm.

How are the bearing walls indicated on the bti plan

How to determine if a wall is load-bearing? It is customary to call load-bearing walls walls that take on the load from the floors and the roof of the building and transfer it to the foundation. The thickness of the wall depends on the material from which it is made and what kind of load it carries. Load-bearing walls can be internal and external. Internal load-bearing walls are usually thinner than external ones due to the absence of the need for heat-insulating layers. Designation of load-bearing walls on a plan The first way to determine which walls are load-bearing is to refer to the building plan. This can be an architectural and construction plan of a working project for a building or floor plan from the passport of the BTI. Unfortunately, there is no standard for the designation of load-bearing walls on a plan. For example, in the architectural and construction plan, the bearing walls are highlighted with a separate hatching, and on the BTI plan, with thicker lines, but not always.