Apartment plan showing load-bearing walls. How is a load-bearing wall indicated in the technical data sheet?

From the author: Hello, dear readers. We all lovingly love our home, take care of it, and do cosmetic repairs. Sometimes simple things are not enough for us finishing works, and we begin to think about remodeling the apartment. It comes in two types: either the construction of additional walls, or the demolition of some of the existing ones.

The second option is most often used. Apartments in many houses are quite small, sometimes it is almost impossible to turn around in such an area. That's why people are trying to get out of the situation with the help of redevelopment. Some people connect the kitchen and living room, some expand the area of ​​the room by adding a loggia to it, and some simply make one large hall out of two rooms.

The problem is that not every wall can be safely damaged or removed. In any house there are load-bearing structures, without which the structure will simply collapse. Therefore, you must have information on how to find out bearing wall or not, so that redevelopment does not lead to huge fines or tragedy.

And before we begin, I would like to additionally draw your attention to this. After remodeling an apartment, cosmetic renovations are usually done, and, most often, on a fairly large scale. Since you are even ready to start demolishing the walls yourself, you are unlikely to want to entrust the finishing of the room to strangers.

What is a “load-bearing wall” and why is it needed?

It is called “carrying” precisely because it bears the weight of everything that is located above. It bears the load from beams, walls, ceilings and the like. Simply put, load-bearing elements represent the foundation of the building on which everything rests. If one of them is damaged or removed, the result can be very tragic - from cracks in other walls, where in this case additional load will be placed, to the collapse of the building.

That is why any redevelopment must be previously agreed upon by the BTI. As you understand, this is a necessary safety measure necessary for all people living in the house. Including for the initiators of such global repairs.

We will return to the issue of coordination in more detail a little later, but now let’s talk about how to distinguish load-bearing elements from ordinary ones, so as not to accidentally create a dangerous situation.

How to find out the location of load-bearing walls in a house?

The easiest way is to obtain a plan of your house from the Capital Construction Department (UCD). This useful drawing shows both the actual load-bearing elements and the floor slabs resting on them. A similar plan can be taken from a house book or technical passport, but everything is somewhat more complicated there; to understand it, you need to understand the drawings and have at least some experience in construction work.

If for some reason none of the plans are available to you, then you will have to involve the knowledge that you will gain from this article. But remember firmly: if there is even the slightest shadow of doubt, then do not even think about starting redevelopment without official clarification. Any mistake in this matter threatens very big troubles, and this is at best.

So, to begin with, let's denote general signs. The load-bearing walls are usually:

• demarcating your apartment from those of your neighbors;
• separating the landing from your home.

A more specific sign is the thickness of the wall, which depends on the type of house.

Panel

Here, almost all vertical elements bear the load. The only exceptions are some internal partitions. Their thickness is usually 80–100 mm, in some cases up to 120 mm. But from 120 mm and above - this size is already typical for load-bearing walls.

You can also navigate by the material from which the structure is made. In almost all panel houses, gypsum concrete panels are used for internal partitions. But for those that worry us most now - reinforced concrete blocks.

Brick

Here the thickness of the structures we are interested in must be at least 380 mm. But this simple approach will only help in houses built before the 90s. In newer buildings the situation may be completely different. Therefore, to accurately determine the type of walls in such houses, you still need to look for an official source of information.

Monolithic

This type of building is a structure made using a frame made of reinforcement, which is filled with concrete. In such buildings, the main load usually falls on those walls whose thickness is at least 20 cm. But such buildings are usually made according to individual orders, so it’s still worth focusing on the house plan.

For more precise definition thickness, you must first clean the surface of all decorative layers: plaster, paint, wallpaper and, especially, . Although finishing does not make such significant adjustments, it can still have a critical effect on the measurement result.

What actions can be performed with load-bearing walls?

As mentioned above, the structure that bears the main load is the basis of the entire building. Therefore, it must be handled with extreme care. To begin with, let’s outline those actions that are unacceptable to perform in relation to a load-bearing wall:

• demolish, as this is fraught with loss of stability of the entire building;
• move to another place - for the same reasons as in the previous paragraph;
• or pipes.

But still she is not completely untouchable. For example, you can:

• make or expand a doorway;
• drill, including through, if the hole has a small diameter.

It should be taken into account that openings can be made and expanded only after official approval from the administration. And when drilling, you should first determine whether there is wiring inside the wall. Otherwise, you can hit the drill directly into it, which threatens you with serious injuries and the apartment - without power.

How to coordinate redevelopment?

At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that any actions related to changing the layout of the apartment must first be approved by the relevant authorities. As a rule, such issues are dealt with by the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI). Consent is mandatory for two reasons.

Firstly, residents cannot always correctly determine the type of wall, so they begin to perform some prohibited actions with the load-bearing wall, mistaking it for an internal partition. Which, as has been mentioned more than once, can become real threat for people's lives.

Secondly, without official permission, any redevelopment is considered illegal. This will lead to fines and to the fact that such an apartment will subsequently be impossible to sell.

To conclude the topic, we invite you to watch the video for greater clarity. Remember that only you are responsible for the actions performed in your apartment. Therefore, treat redevelopment issues extremely carefully. Good luck to you and great achievements in your renovation!

Load-bearing wall (Fig. 1)– main load-bearing enclosing vertical design building, resting on and transferring the load from the floors and the own weight of the wall to the foundation, separating adjacent rooms in the building and protecting them from the influence of the external environment.

Self-supporting wall (Fig. 2)– external enclosing vertical structure protecting interior spaces building from the influence of the external environment, resting and transferring the load from its own weight to the foundation.

Fig.2. Self-supporting wall (outer wall rests on the foundation, and the ceiling is adjacent to the wall)

Curtain wall (Fig. 3)- an external wall resting on the ceiling within one floor with a floor height of no more than 6 m. (at higher altitude floors, these walls are self-supporting) and protect the building from the outside from the influence of the external environment.

Partition- an internal vertical enclosing curtain wall resting on the ceiling and separating adjacent rooms in the building.

In buildings with self-supporting and non-load-bearing external walls, loads from coatings, ceilings, etc. transferred to the frame or transverse structures of buildings.

In a house, the walls that stand on the foundation and on which the ceilings rest will be carriers.

And walls standing on a foundation without the ceiling resting on them will be self-supporting.

Fig.3. Curtain wall (external wall rests on the floor slab)

Walls of different structural purposes carry different loads. To provide the necessary bearing capacity For different walls choose a certain wall thickness and the strength of the materials used.

For example, it is recommended to make internal and external load-bearing walls of buildings made of aerated concrete blocks with a height of up to 3 floors inclusive from blocks of classes of compressive strength not lower than B2.5, with glue or mortar of a grade not lower than M75; at a height of up to 2 floors inclusive - not lower than B2 with glue or mortar of a grade not lower than M50.

For self-supporting walls buildings up to 3 floors high, the block class must be at least B2.

How to determine whether a wall is load-bearing

Many people, wanting to make their apartment more spacious, comfortable or more functional, decide to remodel their apartment. This is a serious decision, which accordingly requires a serious approach. It’s not enough just to make an opening in the wall or, moreover, to demolish it by combining two adjoining rooms. It is necessary to know which walls in the house are load-bearing, whether it is possible to make an opening in them or demolish them, so that this does not lead to a violation of the strength of the building and does not endanger its inhabitants. To carry out the work, it is better to contact a specialized organization that specializes in diamond cutting of concrete. In any case, the redevelopment must be agreed upon with the authority local government. Administrative punishment is provided for spontaneous redevelopment.

So. How to determine whether a wall is load-bearing?

Load-bearing walls It is customary to call walls that take on the load from the floors and roof of a building and transfer it to the foundation. The thickness of the wall depends on the material from which it is made and what load it carries. Load-bearing walls can be internal and external. Internal load-bearing walls are usually thinner than external ones - due to the lack of need for heat-insulating layers.

Designation of load-bearing walls on the 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 detailed design for a building or a floor plan from the BTI passport. Unfortunately, there is no standard for designating load-bearing walls on a plan. For example, in the architectural and construction plan, load-bearing walls are distinguished by separate shading, and on the BTI plan, by thicker lines, but not always. The wall can be marked with a thin line and at the same time be a load-bearing one.

Determination of load-bearing walls by thickness

The second way to find out which wall is load-bearing is by its location and thickness.

Load-bearing walls in a brick house

Wall thickness 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. Mainly in brick residential buildings internal partitions are made of brick or gypsum concrete panels with a thickness of 80 or 120 mm. Inter-apartment partitions 250 mm thick made of brick or 200 mm thick of double panels with air gap. Load-bearing walls in a brick house have a thickness of 380 mm.

Majority brick houses built according to standard series– these are the so-called “Stalins” and “Khrushchevs”. 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 ones and, basically, are also load-bearing.

Also, the load-bearing walls are the walls on which the interfloor floor slabs rest (short side). Usually these are 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. Interior or apartment partitions are usually installed under the beams.

Load-bearing walls in panel house

In panel houses, the thickness of internal partitions ranges from 80 mm to 120 mm, made of gypsum concrete panels. And, 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. Most often these are single-layer panels made of expanded clay concrete with a thickness of 300-350 mm or multilayer panels consisting of two reinforced concrete panels thickness from 60 mm (external) and 80-100 mm (internal), separated by insulation. Eventually, load-bearing walls in a panel house have a thickness of 120 mm.

Load-bearing walls in a monolithic house

With load-bearing walls in a monolithic house, not everything is clear. It is not always possible to identify them. In addition, they may not exist (for example, in monolithic frame buildings). In residential monolithic houses meet 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 load-bearing columns can be more than 300 mm. Thickness interior walls, usually made from aerated concrete blocks, ranges from 200 mm. Thus, the thickness of non-load-bearing partitions is less than 200 mm. But, the opposite is not necessarily true for a load-bearing wall. Since, in monolithic houses, partitions can be more than 200 mm thick (for example, made of foam blocks).

If any of the above methods cause you difficulties, you will need to seek help from specialists from design organizations to conduct an engineering survey. Most often this is necessary in the case of a non-standard construction, a building according to individual project or an old building.

The load-bearing wall is the basis of the building; we do the redevelopment very carefully

Load-bearing walls are supporting structures

Load-bearing walls are the supports of the entire structure. After all, it is on them that the entire frame rests. Therefore, violation of this design can lead to disastrous results. Redevelopment requires special knowledge and qualifications.

Engineers and builders - only these people can correctly and competently carry out the redevelopment of the premises. Therefore, if you are planning to demolish a wall or simply make a niche, then you need to immediately contact professionals.

No matter how much work you need to do, even if you only want to make a recess in the wall, it is very important to adhere to the advice and opinion of professionals.

Start of redevelopment

Everyone knows that load-bearing walls cannot be demolished or broken. But sometimes redevelopment requires just that. First of all, you should figure out which walls are load-bearing and only after that decide what and how to do.

We do everything in the following order:

• You should start by inviting specialists from the BTI, who will issue you the appropriate permit if the redevelopment is possible and safe. The issued document indicates walls that can be demolished without compromising the strength of the apartment or house. After these procedures, you can contact architects and builders to begin redevelopment and further repair work.
• In addition, it is very important not to forget that the redevelopment must be legalized, otherwise problems may arise with the further sale of the apartment. However, it will take a lot of time and effort to legitimize the finished redevelopment.
• If you are interested in knowing in advance which walls in your apartment are load-bearing, then there are several simple ways that will allow you to install this. Each person can determine for himself which walls of the apartment are load-bearing, in order to think through future redevelopment in advance, and after receiving official results, simply adjust it in accordance with safety requirements.

Deciding to start repairing and rebuilding load-bearing walls, or making arches (see Arch in an apartment: transformation into decorative design) or doors, you need to decide how realistic it is to do this. And understand which walls in the apartment are load-bearing, what their function is and what can be done with them. Let's look at these questions in order.

What are the requirements for load-bearing walls?

Walls, ceilings, floors are load-bearing structures in principle in all buildings. Precisely walls, not partitions (see Partitions and walls - what is the difference).

They are subject to certain requirements, and if the design is changed, the requirements must be met, and they are as follows:

They must be strong, durable and stable, as they are the support of the entire building. The weight of both the roof and ceiling passes onto them.

How to determine a load-bearing wall

The walls of houses and apartments perform different functions and experience different loads. Load-bearing walls take on the load not only of their own weight, but also the weight ceilings. Having conceived a major overhaul associated with redevelopment, you simply need to know how to determine a load-bearing wall.

The load-bearing wall is installed perpendicular to the slab that rests on it. That is, the slab lies with its short side on the wall, giving it a significant part of its mass. Load-bearing walls are not always used in buildings. Sometimes columns or beams are installed instead. But basically, load-bearing walls are installed in residential premises during construction, which are easy to determine in some cases, but difficult in others.

Load-bearing wall - support for floor slabs

We note in advance that operations carried out with load-bearing walls, including internal installation Wiring, arrangement of niches and various openings should not be carried out independently without professional skills. About arches. doorways, extended areas or partial demolition are out of the question.

How to determine which wall is load-bearing

Most easy way find a load-bearing wall - get acquainted with the house plan. On it this wall is marked quite clearly. The plan can be found in the local executive committee in the department of capital construction management. You can also use detailed plan apartment, located in the house register or registration certificate. But in this case, the owner must have some construction experience and blueprint reading skills.

You can look at such a plan together with your neighbors living on the floor above. Their design should indicate which wall their floor structure rests on. If the apartment is on the top floor, you can climb into the attic and pay attention to how the slabs are laid.

Note! If there is even the slightest bit of uncertainty, do not touch the wall under any circumstances, as this can be very expensive.

Brick load-bearing wall thickness

If it is impossible to obtain a plan, we will determine the load-bearing wall according to characteristic features. The location of a wall can say a lot about its purpose. The walls facing the staircase hall, as well as the internal walls bordering the neighbors' apartment, are load-bearing. In addition, some external walls bordering environment, can also be load-bearing. They can form the box of a building and take on the entire load.

The next way to determine such a wall is to pay attention to its thickness. If thickness brickwork is 38 centimeters or more, and if the reinforced concrete panel is more than 14 cm thick, then these walls are load-bearing. Now about this in more detail.

Brick houses

The width of the brick is 12 cm. The cement joint between the bricks takes up an average of 1 cm. Simple mathematics tells us that 38 cm is a masonry of three bricks, in which there are two joints (12+1+12+1+12=38). 51 cm – 4-brick masonry; 64 cm – 5-brick, etc. Interior walls usually no thicker than 18 cm. The thickness of the walls is determined without taking into account the plaster. Therefore, before measuring, it is better to clean the walls of the old finish.

In brick houses built in the 90s and later, the situation is a little more complicated. They were most likely built according to an individual project, and the author of the plan will help determine the load-bearing wall.

Panel houses

Load-bearing walls in a panel house

In panel or block house It is very difficult to realize your construction ideas, since most of the walls in it are load-bearing. These include inter-apartment, and external and perpendicular to external walls. The walls of the plumbing rooms are also load-bearing.

The partitions between rooms are only 80–100 mm. But there are exceptional cases when similar houses The thickness of the walls is 12 centimeters wide. Should it be considered load-bearing, or is it just a thickened partition? In this case, you need to turn to competent people for help, who will make a conclusion based on architectural project building. They will decide whether it is possible to carry out further work in the house or not.

Monolithic houses

How to recognize a load-bearing wall in a monolithic house? In houses whose foundation smoothly merges into the frame of the building, any wall more than 20 cm thick is considered load-bearing. However, in such houses, which are often built not according to the standard, but according to the customer’s design decision, to determine the load-bearing wall, it is not enough to be guided by dimensions alone. Simple partition in a monolithic house it can be thicker than 20 cm. And there are houses where there are no load-bearing walls at all. Instead, reliable columns are used. Therefore, a building plan and drawing can be helpful. If for some reason they are not available, then a verdict from authorized persons cannot be avoided.

Permission from relevant authorities.

Many people don't want to get involved with officials and prefer to resolve such important issues on their own. But this is fraught with serious mistakes. Don’t be afraid to call specialists into your home for consultation and obtain permission. Moreover, if you find the slightest cracks, a damp or crumbled area on a wall, even if it is not load-bearing, invite an inspector who will assess the extent of the damage and give advice.

Note! Any redevelopment, regardless of the type of apartment, be it a Khrushchev-era building or a cottage house, requires the consent and written permission of the BTI or other relevant public services. Work on load-bearing walls, even if performed by a professional, also requires a permit.

If you still have to carry out some dismantling work on load-bearing walls, it should be carried out by a competent specialist who knows how to install temporary columns that take on the weight of the slab instead of the wall. Representatives of authorized organizations and engineers licensed for this construction activity must monitor the process and carry out calculations of such columns.

Note! It is impossible to sell an apartment with an illegal redevelopment, and getting a project for an already remodeled apartment will be very difficult and problematic.

There is no need to think that the planned work is insignificant and is not worth calling a team. The slightest mistake can cost the lives of many people, because an unnoticeable microcrack in a load-bearing wall can eventually lead to the collapse of the building.

Work carried out on load-bearing walls

Installation of support when demolishing a load-bearing wall

If you decide to carry out work on load-bearing walls, for example, to dig ditches, do it with the utmost caution. If there are sockets or switches on the wall. Remember that wiring is hidden inside the wall. which, if the premises are not de-energized, can damage the power supply system and cause injury to the worker. If the house is old, there may even be gas pipe. 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 without support.

If your professional skills allow you to undertake partial removal of the wall, do not forget to place a support in the resulting opening, which can be hidden over time with false beams.

Find more tips below:

Knowing where the load-bearing walls are located in the apartment, you can understand whether redevelopment with the combination of rooms is feasible. The destruction of load-bearing walls or sections of them disrupts the power structure of the building, which in the future can lead to a weakening of the load-bearing capacity of structures.

In addition, if an inspection by the Moscow Housing Inspectorate reveals such illegal redevelopment, the owner of the apartment will have to pay a fine and, at his own expense, return the apartment to its previous condition.

Even the device of new doorways in load-bearing walls can only be carried out on the basis of design documentation with a technical conclusion from the author of the house.

Therefore, before you begin remodeling an apartment, you should determine which walls in it are load-bearing.

This is especially relevant in light of the fact that the majority of standard housing in Moscow is represented by panel houses. Characteristic feature this type of residential building is design diagram with availability large quantity transverse load-bearing walls.

Typical standard floor plan panel house(series P-3). There are practically no non-load-bearing walls:

In block houses, a similar scheme is used, but load-bearing walls are spaced less frequently (floor of a panel-block house, series II-68):

An exception to this rule are panel and block Khrushchev buildings, as well as monolithic and brick houses, in which a significant part of all transverse walls are non-load-bearing partitions.

The Khrushchev-era scheme consists of three longitudinal load-bearing walls (two external and one internal), the stability of which is ensured by transverse rigidity diaphragms. Plates interfloor ceilings in this case, they can rest either on longitudinal main walls or on beams that lie on these walls. Most of the interior walls in such houses are partitions, which favors redevelopments.

How to find out if a wall is load-bearing or not?

The definition of load-bearing walls in an apartment is not currently challenging task. If your house belongs to any of the common series, then you can find plans for it on the Internet typical floors and sections on which load-bearing walls are usually allocated. But the easiest way to find out which wall is load-bearing and which is just a partition is to measure its thickness.

The thickness of partitions in any modern standard houses always insignificant and amounts to 8-10 cm.

It is quite easy to determine the load-bearing wall in a block house - they are 50 cm wide. It is difficult to confuse them.

The standard width of load-bearing walls in a panel house is 14, 16, 18 and 20 cm.

It is interesting that sometimes in some houses there are 12-cm load-bearing walls. In addition, there are partitions whose thickness has increased due to layers of plaster, sound insulation, etc., and they can be confused with load-bearing ones. Therefore, the width of the wall is always measured without taking into account the finishing layers.

In such cases, when it is difficult to determine the load-bearing wall, an employee of the design organization conducts an engineering survey. A similar situation can arise in an apartment. standard house, however, this most often happens with old houses, as well as new ones built according to an individual project. Employees of the Moscow Housing Inspectorate may require to inspect and prepare a technical report for safety reasons - even for a wall about which the owner is confident that it is 100% non-load-bearing.

You can’t just go and measure a load-bearing wall with a tape measure. Measurements are taken only after the wall in the required place has been cleaned of the finishing.

Employees of APB No. 1 measure the pylon in their office

• What is a “load-bearing wall” and why is it needed?
• How to find out the location of load-bearing walls in a house?
  • Panel
  • Brick
  • Monolithic
• What actions can be performed with load-bearing walls?
• How to coordinate redevelopment?

From the author: Hello, dear readers. We all dearly love our home, take care of it, and make cosmetic repairs. Sometimes simple finishing works are not enough for us, and we begin to think about remodeling the apartment. It comes in two types: either the construction of additional walls, or the demolition of some of the existing ones. In our realities, the second option is most often used. Apartments in many houses are quite small, sometimes it is almost impossible to turn around in such an area. That's why people are trying to get out of the situation with the help of redevelopment.

Is it possible to determine from the BTI documents whether a load-bearing wall is or not?

There is no one generally accepted designation of load-bearing walls on plans. Unfortunately, there is no one generally accepted designation of load-bearing walls on plans that would be used by all design enterprises, developers and other organizations, therefore the owner often has to sit for a long time over the received drawings before being able to find out which the wall is load-bearing and which one is not. On the architectural and construction plans of the detailed design for construction apartment building Load-bearing walls are usually highlighted with special shading.
On plans from BTI, such structures are indicated as thicker than simple interior partitions, but not always. There are often cases when on the plans of old houses a wall is indicated by a thin line, but in reality it is load-bearing.

Load-bearing wall in the registration certificate for the apartment

Attention

The first thing you need to pay attention to when examining the septum is its thickness. In panel houses, load-bearing walls are always much thicker than ordinary interior partitions.

Info

Load-bearing wall in a panel house Po building regulations minimum thickness load-bearing partition in a panel house must be at least 12 cm. This is the net size, excluding facing materials on the wall, of which there can be quite a lot (plaster, wallpaper, paint, etc.)

Important

Interior partitions, which do not perform load-bearing functions, have a thickness of 8-10 cm (excluding finishing). That is, to determine the load-bearing walls, all internal partitions must be measured, having previously cleared them of facing materials.

Load-bearing wall in a house - how to determine which walls are load-bearing?

All Khrushchev buildings are characterized by the same layout, and the load-bearing structures in them are usually only those that separate the apartment from other apartments, the landing and the street, and all internal partitions simply separate the rooms and can be safely dismantled. In Khrushchev, the load-bearing wall always has a thickness of more than 12 cm without finishing layers 4 Determining the purpose of the wall according to apartment plans It is believed that the load-bearing wall in any apartment can easily be found using technical documentation, for example, the floor plan of an apartment building.
This is true, but to determine the functions of internal partitions you need to be able to work with design documentation, understand symbols, read diagrams, etc.

Symbols on BTI plans

Both of these types have similar design solutions and are made in the form of three longitudinal load-bearing and transverse walls, which support the longitudinal ones and, basically, are also load-bearing. Also, the load-bearing walls are the walls on which the interfloor floor slabs rest (short side). Usually these are longitudinal load-bearing walls. There is an option when the floor slab rests on a reinforced concrete beam of rectangular cross-section. Which, in turn, rests on load-bearing walls or brick pillars.

Interior or apartment partitions are usually installed under the beams. 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, 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 determine load-bearing walls in a room

The wall can be marked with a thin line and at the same time be a load-bearing one. Determining load-bearing walls by thickness The second way to find out which wall is load-bearing is by its location and thickness.
Load-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. Accordingly, brick walls can be 120, 250, 380, 520, 640 mm thick, etc.

Basically, in brick residential buildings, internal partitions are made of brick or gypsum concrete panels 80 or 120 mm thick. Apartment partitions 250 mm thick made of brick or 200 mm thick made of double panels with an air gap.

Load-bearing walls in a brick house have a thickness of 380 mm. Most brick houses built according to standard series are the so-called “Stalinka” and “Khrushchev” buildings.

How to find out whether a wall is load-bearing or not in order to protect yourself during redevelopment?

Before starting a major renovation, which involves making changes to the layout of the apartment, it is necessary to identify load-bearing walls. According to the law such building construction It is prohibited to dismantle, as it reduces the reliability and durability of the building.

Preliminary determination load-bearing structures apartments will save the owner from many problems with government agencies that monitor compliance with current building codes and regulations. Content

• 1 How to determine all the load-bearing walls in your apartment?
• 2 Search for load-bearing partitions in a panel house
• 3 What walls can be dismantled in a Khrushchev building?
• 4 Determining the purpose of the wall according to apartment plans
• 5 Rules for dismantling internal partitions

1 How to determine all the load-bearing walls in your apartment? Khrushchev and panel houses have load-bearing walls and thin interior partitions.

How to determine if a wall is load-bearing or not?

The walls that mark the boundaries of the apartment and those that look at the staircase are load-bearing, but in some cases only they alone can take on the entire load of the floors, and with all internal partitions possible to work. Load-bearing partitions can also be determined by the thickness of the wall. In this case, the wall thickness should be determined without taking into account the plaster coating. In brick houses, the main partitions are those whose thickness exceeds 38 cm.

If a house is built from reinforced concrete panels, then the load-bearing walls in it are at least 14 cm thick, and often these also include those walls that define the boundaries of the bathrooms. In monolithic houses, walls with a thickness of 20 cm or more are the main ones.

But in such houses it is not enough to rely on only one size, and a wall more than 20 cm thick can only be an ordinary partition.

How to find a load-bearing wall in an apartment and do the redevelopment correctly

To determine the load-bearing walls, it is necessary to use the plan. When remodeling, you must contact 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 BTI employees or other relevant government agencies. If an illegal redevelopment has been carried out in an apartment, it becomes impossible to sell it, and obtaining 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 a load-bearing wall can affect the entire structure of the building. Carrying out work with load-bearing walls It is possible to carry out some work on load-bearing walls, however, any actions must be carried out exclusively by competent specialists.

Most often these are single-layer panels made of expanded clay concrete with a thickness of 300-350 mm or multilayer 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 house Not everything is clear with load-bearing walls in a monolithic house. It is not always possible to identify 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 load-bearing columns can be more than 300 mm. The thickness of the internal walls, usually made of aerated concrete blocks, ranges from 200 mm. Thus, the thickness of non-load-bearing partitions is less than 200 mm.

How is a load-bearing wall indicated in the technical data sheet?

To more accurately determine the thickness, you must first clean the surface of all decorative layers: plaster, paint, wallpaper and, especially, drywall. Although finishing does not make such significant adjustments, it can still have a critical effect on the measurement result.

What actions can be performed with load-bearing walls? As mentioned above, the structure that bears the main load is the basis of the entire building. Therefore, it must be handled with extreme care. To begin with, let’s outline those actions that are unacceptable to perform in relation to a load-bearing wall:

• demolish, as this is fraught with loss of stability of the entire building;
• move to another place - for the same reasons as in the previous paragraph;
• groove under wiring or pipes.

But still she is not completely untouchable.