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Have you ever been to a space and thought to yourself, "this place would be perfect if we could just knock down that wall!" Well, as it turns out, that's a big "if" once you investigate what this task entails.
I have found myself in
this situation in the past when I've wanted to make changes to our
existing home or when we've been shopping for a new home. As I learned long ago from Joel, the location of a wall
is determined by a number of factors in addition to defining the space.
Walls may be structural in nature [load bearing wall] or constructed to enclose ducts, plumbing, wiring, posts or columns. Making modifications to the structure of the house or relocating some or all of those items can prove to be an expensive proposition costing in the thousands of dollars by the time it's all "said and done."
Walls may be structural in nature [load bearing wall] or constructed to enclose ducts, plumbing, wiring, posts or columns. Making modifications to the structure of the house or relocating some or all of those items can prove to be an expensive proposition costing in the thousands of dollars by the time it's all "said and done."
With such a potentially high price
tag, I decided that I needed to come up with a creative and relatively
inexpensive solution for that "unwanted" wall in our last
home. At the time, it just didn't
make sense for us to invest a lot of money into a home in which we
knew we would not be going to remain in for long. The wall in
question made the two adjacent rooms
appear dark, gloomy and small. In addition to that, we wanted increased
visibility for the kids from all vantage points.
Having consulted a structural engineer it was determined that the wall in question was loadbearing and could not be removed without a costly expense. Undeterred, I still wanted to do something with it, so after some minor exploration behind the drywall we discovered that it was free of ducts and had only a few wires which could be easily accommodated. With the right placement of structural blocking between the studs, we had it...my interior window! The end result gave us much brighter, more integrated rooms with better sightlines...and the bonus was that the entire project cost less than a fraction of what it would have been to remove it completely!
Having consulted a structural engineer it was determined that the wall in question was loadbearing and could not be removed without a costly expense. Undeterred, I still wanted to do something with it, so after some minor exploration behind the drywall we discovered that it was free of ducts and had only a few wires which could be easily accommodated. With the right placement of structural blocking between the studs, we had it...my interior window! The end result gave us much brighter, more integrated rooms with better sightlines...and the bonus was that the entire project cost less than a fraction of what it would have been to remove it completely!
As you can see here, I have four spaces between the wall studs opened up to give that "window" look. The decorative fretwork panel inserts were a great find from HomeSense, which I thought were perfect for my new "window." However, it turned out to be a bit of a challenge for my trusted contractor at SBI Woodworking as they were made from a brittle, composite material which was quite difficult to work with. I think he did a fantastic job!
For more ideas on opening up spaces without removing walls, be sure to check out this great article, 9 Small-Space Solutions, from This Old House.
If you have a great idea to share, I invite you to submit a guest post through myblogguest or simply email me at deehuynh[AT]deesigned[DOT]ca!
