How to tell if it's load bearing?

[Candiceschmitz]

Hi, we are planning to make some changes to a rental property. We are new to all of this and on a budget. Learning about needing permission etc before anything can happen,we will not do anything until signed off to do so. However, if it's going to cost getting permission and a few thousand (if it is load bearing making it not a DIY job) this is a change we may well not be able to make. 

 

How can I tell if it's load bearing before we even consider getting a SE in and applying for permission? 

 

It's a loo and a utility cupboard. We want to open it up into one room. 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Candiceschmitz

[Candiceschmitz]

I'm also interested in whether the living room/dining room wall is load bearing. 

 

The new tenant would also like us to move the hallway/living room door from where it is to at the bottom of the stairs. How simple is it to do that? 

 

If anyone can give me a good idea of which walls are load bearing, that would be super helpful. 

[nod]

Take the carpet up above the wall 

If the floorboards run parallel to the wall It’s probably load baring 

and the joists will be sat on the wall 

If the floorboards run across the wall 

Its not load baring 

[Mr Punter]

Wall between WC and utility is almost certainly not loadbearing.  You don't need planning consent or building regs to remove it.

 

The wall between the living room and hallway is almost certainly loadbearing.  I don't see the benefit in moving the door.  It would probably need a new lintel and it will be difficult to make good the blocked up one.

[George]

There are two types of load bearing - vertical load bearing and providing horizontal stability. B

 

For vertical load bearing the best you can do is educated guesses until you remove the plaster in the wall and ceiling and see whether anything is sat on top of the wall.

 

The toilet/utility wall - From the floor plan it is unlikely to be vertically load bearing or providing buttress to the main exterior wall.

 

However the dining room probably is both vertically load bearing and providing a buttress to the long side wall. You may need to leave a 550mm buttress in place or insert a wind post. 

 

I question why you as a landlord are doing this on request from a tenant. If they didn't like it as was they shouldn't have rented it. Unless this will add value (I don't think  it will) to the house, why do it?