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We’re starting a home remodeling project on a basement bath. We are planning to do the demolition and framing part of the project ourselves. What exists now is a “block wall” bathroom which uses an exterior wall as one of the walls. For several reasons, we’ve decided to demolish the 3 interior block walls in redoing the bathroom. Can we just:
a) Start up with the sledgehammers and knock those walls out, or
b) Should we first chisel or saw a pilot line where the interior block wall we’d like to demolish meets the exterior block wall (which we don’t wish to demolish)., or
c) is there a better alternative?
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Does the wall hold up anything?
*If the walls do not interlock with the exterior wall and they do not carry a load.. Get out the saftey glasses and gloves and have at it
*Ann,Sounds like a one story on a slab foundation?Anyway , are you sure the thre interior block walls are not load bearing ?Sounds like two of the walls do interlock with the exterior, if they are nonload bearing then I'd go easy the closer you got to the ext wall, I'm jealous.By nature of some block designs , you may not be able to cut out the entire interior wall where it meets the exterior wall. You might have to leave an inch or so of it there or risk leaving a half block which is missing one of its four sides.Yes I think scoring it with a conc. saw blade might be a good idea. Experiment in a safe spot.Good luck , some people have all the fun , taking a sledge hammer to your bathroom wall.dj
*Call Tim Allen and the Tool Time crew!If this is a basement it is very likely that these perpendicular to the outside wall are acting as buttresses to resist soil pressures. It is possible you could create a headache. Someone knowledgable needs to see on site.
*These walls in the bathroom aren't load bearing at all. In fact, and I should have mentioned this sooner, they stop about a foot from the ceiling to allow room for pipes and stuff. This bathroom is located in a full basement. I will check to see if it interlocks with the exterior walls. My guess is that it doesn't, but we are going to run stud walls out from the exterior walls, anyway, so we can leave the wall in place a few inches out. This home was built in 1963, and whoever built it was a quality builder who really liked concrete block! They did forget to install a sink in the bathroom, however, and it has no venting system whatsoever, so when we remodel it, these are things we need to add. Oh, by the way, the shower is about 4'x5' - definitely a very large block shower, but very cold and unattractive. We have, with the addition of our foreign exchange student, 3 teen-aged boys in the house, and that's not counting my husband. I imagine they'll be fighting over who gets first crack at the walls! I anticipate that my contribution to the project will be to stand close by and insure that we don't end up with a "walk-out" basement . Thanks for all the advice....................love you guys!!
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We're starting a home remodeling project on a basement bath. We are planning to do the demolition and framing part of the project ourselves. What exists now is a "block wall" bathroom which uses an exterior wall as one of the walls. For several reasons, we've decided to demolish the 3 interior block walls in redoing the bathroom. Can we just:
a) Start up with the sledgehammers and knock those walls out, or
b) Should we first chisel or saw a pilot line where the interior block wall we'd like to demolish meets the exterior block wall (which we don't wish to demolish)., or
c) is there a better alternative?