Relocating Interior Bedroom Wall

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NorwegianMan

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I bought my house with an addition off the back corner of the ranch house, so now an L shaped house. I am looking for some guidance on moving a wall that was used to section off part of that room for a small bedroom/utility room, too small for a bedroom. I would like to move the wall over 2 to 3 feet to make two bedrooms.
How do I add the wall between the ceiling joists?
Do I need to add supports between the ceiling joists? 2x4, 2x6 between two joists? How do I know if its a load bearing wall?
Do I remove the ceiling drywall to expose the joists?
I will be installing on a cement slab, most likely will join using masonry fasteners I suppose?
I don't have much experience with this, but want to DIY this as much as possible.
I also have a woodstove in the corner of the room that will need to be removed prior to converting to a bedroom. Not sure where to relocate too, living room would get too hot.
Who to hire for onsite developer/contractor/architect planning?
Hmmmmm. Need advice.
 
To add a wall that runs perpendicular to the ceiling joists you can just nail to them with or without removing drywall.
If the wall runs with the joist you just lay 2x4 blocks between the joists on top of the drywall about every 2 or 3 feet and nail them in place, you can then nail the wall to those blocks with or with out removing drywall..
In the attic you are looking for anything that ends on top of that wall you want to remove. If it is running the same direction as the joists USUALLY no bearing. The other hint is bearing wall are USUALLY bolted down and non bearing walls are nailed down in some fashion.
 
Your bottom plate fastener (2x4 on the bottom of the wall) must be no less than 1" of concrete penetration. A powder actuate nail driver is fast and very strong because it includes a big fender washer to distribute the holding power. You can rent them for very little. The alternative is to use an impact drill into the concrete with a masonry screw (1/4" TAPCON is popular) that penetrates more than an inch PAST THE BOTTOM PLATE. Then you screw drive the TAPCON through the bottom plate and into the concrete.

Of course, you will have pre-assembled the stud wall before doing all this. You tilt up the wall and THEN you fasten the bottom plate accordingly.

MASONRY.jpg
 
Thanks for the advice. I know that the existing wall is non load bearing and feels very weak. Doesn't feel very solid when opening and closing the door to the room. I'm not good with remodeling designs and where best to relocate the wall in the room. The room steps down about 10 inches from the main house through a pocket door, which I don't like. Would I need an architect to tell me how best to utilize or redesign the layout in that addition?
 
Flimsy wall might be a hint but don't use that as proof.

Pehaps you could do a drawing of the room and what you want in it c/w sizes and post it here, there are some here who can help.
 
NorwegianMan said:
Thanks for the advice. I know that the existing wall is non load bearing and feels very weak. Doesn't feel very solid when opening and closing the door to the room. I'm not good with remodeling designs and where best to relocate the wall in the room. The room steps down about 10 inches from the main house through a pocket door, which I don't like. Would I need an architect to tell me how best to utilize or redesign the layout in that addition?
Click to expand...

If you move the wall, will it put that step into the middle of one of the rooms? May not be such a good idea, unless you plan to address that too.
 
You can get a free version of Sketch-up 2014 to draw a diagram of the room with measurements (it has options to let you draw lines to specific measurements). You can move stuff in sketchup once you place it to see how it would look if you moved things around.

You can also use graph paper to draw a sketch and then take measurements of the objects you want to put into the rooms and cut out little mini versions to scale from graph paper. Then use those to place inside the space to figure out a design.

I've also found that there are some friendly people on Houzz that give suggestions for layouts and such if you can provide pictures of the sizes, locations of doors and windows, and such.

Also, check to find out if permits are required in your area for moving interior walls. Some areas are rather lax and don't care, but others are very strict.
 
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