Before removing an internal wall for your house renovation consider this

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Planning to change the interior layout of your home?

​The interior of an existing home can be altered by removing walls between rooms. This can make the home more open-plan, it can let more natural light into areas which were previously dark, it can make the home more modern, it can make spaces more usable, it may eliminate passages and incorporate the space into enlarged living areas, indeed removing internal walls has many advantages and can radically alter homes, making them feel more spacious, light filled, modern, and more liveable.

But before starting your home renovation project and getting a hammer out and smashing down some interior walls there are some important points you should consider to avoid unnecessary costs and surprises and to ensure there are no accidents.

What to consider before demolishing internal walls in your renovation project

It seems so simple – cut out an existing wall to make a room larger, or to create open plan living areas, but usually timber and tile floors have been laid around the existing wall. Moving the wall exposes a bare piece of floor. Patching the timber or tile often results in colour differences (assuming the product is still available).
Case study: in our house we undertook renovations in the main bedroom. This involved moving a few walls slightly and the timber floor had to be patched in a couple of places. Firstly we had to find the exact same timber for the patches. Then the complete bedroom floor had to be sanded and sealed. But the timber floor continued from the bedroom out the door through the whole upper level floor. The newly sanded and treated floor was always going to have a different colour from the original floor which had aged in the sun and with use. We eventually had to sand and seal all the existing timber floor upstairs to achieve a uniform coloured floor – about one hundred square metres (a thousand square feet) because one square metre (ten square feet) had to be patched!

There are other issues you should consider which could add to your costs. These include:

• Is the wall load bearing, supporting the structure (roof or 2nd floor) above? (See my article last week: Before removing walls or adding new windows and doors check your house will not fall down )
• Are there pipes or electrical wiring in the wall which have to be accommodated elsewhere? These need to be isolated, made safe and then relocated as necessary.
• Will the floor levels on the two sides of the wall be the same? If the floors have been constructed separately it’s feasible that they aren’t perfectly level and even though they are the same level at a connecting doorway they might be different elsewhere. Even a level variance of five millimetres (a fifth of an inch) can be a problem when you try join the floors after the wall is gone.
• Will the ceilings be at the same height between the adjoining rooms? Ceilings may not be exactly level across the room and you may find that the ceilings don’t perfectly line-up. Even a five millimetre difference (fifth of an inch) may result in you having to redo the ceiling in one of the rooms.
• Will the floor finishes match? Replacing carpets may be simple, but tiles involve more work. Even when the floor tiles match at a connecting door between the rooms they may not match further along when the wall is removed. It’s possible that the tile pattern in one room isn’t perfectly square, or the joints between tiles are fractionally larger. This may result in tile patterns mismatching further from the door when the wall is removed.
• Will the walls at right angles to the wall that’s removed line-up between the adjoining rooms? Sometimes one wall could be slightly out of square or a few millimetres thicker, which could mean that once the wall is removed the adjoining walls don’t join perfectly flat. You can manage this transition by including a small nib where the wall you removed joined the other walls.
• Usually lights have to be changed so they are controlled by one common switch. Lights mounted in the ceiling may have to be relocated so they are placed evenly and symmetrically across the enlarged room. This may entail minor repairs to the ceiling.
• Ducted air-conditioning may have to be modified so there is one control for the room. The ducts feeding the two rooms could have to be combined to take account of the new enlarged room.

Understand what your home renovation plan entails

There are definite benefits to removing, or even just moving internal walls. However, you don't want to have an unpleasant surprise when the costs go over your renovation budget. Careful planning will ensure that you don't cause unnecessary damage to your home, have accidents during the renovation, that you make appropriate choices to limit additional costs, and that you include all the extra costs into your budget. Some of these costs could include making good ceilings, moving electrical switches, changing light positions, redoing the floor to match, repainting the rooms and more.

​Being prepared will make your home renovation a success. 

Learn more about renovating and building houses

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​Paul Netscher has written 2 easy to read books 'An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses - Volumes 1 and 2'. An Introduction to Building and Renovating Houses Volume 1 deals with Hiring Contractors, Managing Construction and Finishing Your Home.  and Designing your ideal home Volume 2 deals with Finding Your Ideal Property and Designing Your Dream Home. 
​("Great for those that DIY. Very helpful in home renovations!" said a Reader on Amazon.com 5*****)
These books are available from Amazon and other online bookstores in paper and ebook.
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