Wall Demolition

We open up spaces and strip out whatever has to go, leaving the room clean and ready for what comes next.

Quick answers

What does it mean to strip a bathroom or kitchen "back to the brick"?It means the tiles, render, fixtures and old pipes all come out until the bare masonry shows. The renovation then starts from a sound base, and you can see what the walls were hiding.Can I knock down a wall to join two rooms?It depends on whether the wall is load-bearing. Brick walls between concrete columns usually carry no load, but that is for an engineer to confirm. Structural elements are not touched without a design and a permit.Can I stay at home while the bathroom or kitchen is being stripped out?Yes, but it takes preparation: sealed doors against the dust, a plan for where you'll wash or cook, and patience with the noise and the breaks in water and power.What happens to the rubble from a strip-out? Where does it go?It is bagged inside the home, carried down with the shared areas protected, and has to end up with a licensed waste management scheme, not in the household bins.

Guides

4 parts

Demolition

Demolition and Strip-Out: What to Know Before the First Blow

Which walls can come down and which need an engineer, how tiles and render are stripped, how to protect the home from dust, and where the rubble goes. In four parts.

Read the full guide

Terms

Debris (rubble)The waste that comes out of demolition and building work: broken tiles, render, bricks and concrete. It is collected in bags and has to be disposed of legally.DemolitionKnocking down or stripping out whatever has to go before a renovation: walls, tiles, render, bathroom fittings, old floors or old insulation.Infill wallA brick wall that fills the gap between columns, beams and slabs. It divides rooms, but it isn't built to hold the building up.LintelThe beam over a door, window or opening in a wall, which carries the bricks above it and passes their weight to the sides.Load-bearing wallA wall that carries part of the building's weight, such as floors, beams or the storeys above. It must not be removed or opened up without an engineer's design and the required permit.SkipA large metal container for the rubble from building work, collected by a truck once full. On the street it usually needs a permit from the municipality.Structural designAn engineer's study that checks whether a building can take a change, such as an opening in a load-bearing wall, and sets out how it is done and how it is strengthened.