New DIYers - would you tear down a wall by yourself?

[Anonymous]

We just purchased our first home (in another city) - and before we move in we are doing some renovations to the kitchen and then updating the floors. We've had two contractors that have told us that the wall b/t the kitchen and living room is not a structural wall, we know another similar home that had this done and we know there was not an asbestos problem. Also, we've had the electrical outlet in that wall deactivated (meaning that the electrician knew we wanted to take down that wall, so he made sure we wouldn't be electrocuted, and we don't believe there are any heating/cooling elements running through it (it's a small house and all the ducts and vents seem to be around the outer walls.

DH is nervous to do this, but I kind of think we should tear down the wall ourselves! We plan on having a professional match the new flooring, and we're simply pulling out the cabinetry to sit on the outer edge of the kitchen (so we would need to remove the cabinetry).

I think if we start slowly and make sure that we're not doing anything crazy, it would be fun. Also, contractors have given us estimates of upwards of $1500 for them to tear down the wall. We would leave the new flooring to the professionals, but I'd rather spend 1500 on quality appliances and flooring then having someone else take down the wall.

[Anonymous]

I would watch the pros do it if you've never experienced any sort of home construction. The cost of damage repair is way more than $1500.

[Anonymous]

I've taken down a non-structural wall by myself.

Do your research and go for it. There are a lot of good "how to" videos on Youtube. They are invaluable for DIY.

[Anonymous]

Who is going to do the finish work to the walls and trim affected by the wall removal? If you were conc erned about asbestos, your house may be of an era when kead based paint was used. Given the low cost quoted for wall removal, it sounds like you are in a low cost of living area. This ay be the time to let someone do the work. Your fun may be to remove the heavy plaster or plasterboard which may be in your house, again given what seems to be an older structure

[Anonymous]

No, not on your first diy. Nothing worse than living with a lop sided messed up wall.

[Anonymous]

If you are getting rid of the wall completely then yes! Rip out the drywall first. Ripping out a wall isn't a skilled trade, it is just manual labor. As others said, it is all on Youtube. we did all kinds of renos DIY, learning from Youtube. Saved us tons of money.

[Anonymous]

We do want pros to do the finish work- thing is, we're moving for my career, DH doesn't yet have a job there- so although money isn't tight now, it very well could be. I'd rather save the money for nice touches. And we did test for lead during the inspection-we have an in any and we're overly cautious-and it turned up negative. It is an old house, built in early 1900s. Beautiful.

[Anonymous]

Have an infant^^^^

[Anonymous]

We decided against doing it ourselves. But we didn't get $1,500 quotes either! (We're in 22201). I think that the demolishing -- which took about 6 hours or so, cost less than a few hundred dollars.

[Anonymous]

As first-timers with, I assume, little reno experience, I would not. There are a lot of things you need to think about:

1) Did you think about covering air vents? There is going to be a ton of dust--and not just in the immediate area.
2) How are you going to dispose of the wall and rubble?
3) Have you checked for lead paint (lead in the paint dust)?
4) How are you going to finish the walls and the ceiling? If you damage the ceiling, you are going to have to hire someone to redo the ceiling dry-wall and plaster.
5) Be very, very sure that yours is not a load-bearing wall. It didn't seem that our wall between our kitchen and dining was load bearing, but it indeed was (found out by a structural engineer, not the contractors we interviewed). We did open up the wall, but braces had to be put in during demo and LVLs placed in the upper part of the wall.

[Anonymous]

I would like to echo the sentiment of comment number 5 from the 0940 poster regarding the load bearing wall. We recently had a wall taken down between our living room and kitchen for a kitchen reno that two contractors told us was a load bearing wall and two who told us it was not. We ended up getting s structural engineer out who told us the wall was indeed load bearing. Needless to say we did not go with either of the two contractors who told us it was non-load bearing

[Anonymous]

Wait till your husband is not home and become good friends with a sledge hammer (plastic up the area around the wall and use a mask). As long as it is not load bearing its fine. Also, just be careful in case there is other electrical lines and plumbing in the walls that you don't know about. We've been shocked a few times - nothing bad has happened but its not something I'd recommend. I've started a few projects when my husband has not been home (i.e. pull down tons of shelving and the kitchen floor).

[Anonymous]

Demo is really easy, but you should be careful when doing it. I would do it in stages (don't just start swinging with -sledge hammer. Put a drop cloth (old sheet will work) and remove the drywall in pieces to expose the studs and any internal wiring/pipes (make a small hole and then pull off pieces of the dry wall with crow bar. Be careful near the ceiling/adjacent walls because you don't want to unnecessarily destroy the those surfaces and have to redo them as well (I would score the adjacent walls/ceiling by running a utility knife a few inches from the wall being removed). Once you have removed the drywall, you can verify that wires/pipes are not present, and call a plumber/electrician as needed. After that, you start whacking with a sledge hammer to remove the studs.

[Anonymous]

Go for it! My husband and I were just talking about the same thing.

[Anonymous]

I did what a PP said - waited till my husband was out of town, then took sledge hammer to the wall. In truth, the sledge hammer work is minor. There is a lot of cutting out with a saw, pulling with your hands, hauling the debris out in trash cans, sweeping up the mess. There was nothing particularly skilled about the demo. I framed in the new space myself, and that was a skilled job, for sure, which I did only marginally skillfully. I'd say do it!

My job did cost a whole lot of money, though, because once I ripped open the wall I found nasty, dangerous wiring. Backed away carefully, called the electrician, he came and rewired half the house. Yikes.