Totally OT – building help! Knocking down sleeper walls…

Evening,

Looking for a bit of help here…

I have a 1940s ex council end terrace house.

Its epic and I love it!

However its a bit cold… there is a bit of a draft coming through the bathroom floor under the bath and coming up through the laminate floor. I was thinking that this would be easy enough to sort by squeezing under the floor into the crawl space, about 2 to 3 foot hight, maybe more, and then hanging insulation between the floor joists on netting to trap a bit of heat and block the drafts. A few houses I have stayed in before have had this and it seems to work well.

This is where the problem is, I can only get under the floor in one location, under the stairs, everywhere else is laminate or tiled. This wouldnt be a big issue but there are no holes in the sleeper walls big enough for me to squeeze through. Every house I have had previously have had holes in the sleeper walls to crawl through. They have all looked like they have been bashed in by someone in the past.

Can I safely make holes in these sleeper walls to squeeze through? Is there a best place to do it? Near the middle? Under a door? Between two doors? do I knock away from the top or bottom of the wall?

Thanks!

David.

‘sleeper walls’ stop at the underside of the ground floor and support the ground floor structure only – the joists. if it has a door over, then there must be a wall over, and it’s not a sleeper wall, it’s the underbuilding or simply ‘a wall’. the holes you have previously seen are often made during the installation of central heating. under a long length of uninterrupted wall is the best bet, under a door after that. knock away the middle or bottom. leave at least three courses of brick over the hole and/or install lintels if you have time. this will support the floor joists over. don’t remove more than you have to to squeeze through. don’t go under the floor on your own. check for asbestos first with a proper face mask on. watch for exposed electrical cables. use hammer and chisel not a sledge hammer.

Thanks for that! I didnt think that some might actually be a wall continuing down – makes sense though! If its got a honeycomb structure does that make it safer to knock a hole in? Im best to get a cold chisel and a hammer and work the bricks out one at a time to I can squeeze through yeah?

Cheers!

David.

Hi Sorry for the hijack but I’m in need of doing the same thing as dmiller, would a lintel like this be sufficient or could you recommend another?
I dont think I have enough courses to leave 3 courses of bricks above the opening so am I correct in thinking that putting lintels in is my only option?
I’m planning on have a wood floor installed so would like to sort out access sooner rather than later.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Concrete-Lintel/invt/244002

Cheers

Rich

From memory I remember a mate using something similar to one of these http://www.wickes.co.uk/Angle-Section-Lintel-1200mm-x-90mm/invt/152854 upside down. He hammered them in where there was a gap between the supporting walls and floor joists before removing any bricks

Hope this makes sense…