Plaster and lathe walls
![plaster and lathe walls plaster and lathe walls](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f9/0f/c3/f90fc32a6cb35d40bc8642ceac9606bd.jpg)
For reference, the wall on the left is a very solid wall (there is a flat next door, but it's actually a separate building). And there was me hoping this would lead to an easy answer! Here are some more diagrams/pictures: In fact I'd be surprised if you have more than a 6-8ft span of lathes without another vertical member if my house is anything to go by (though mine's a few hundred years older). If the span's big enough, you will definitely have other vertical beams embedded on that wall. Might be easier to visualise if you knocked up a sketch, but in answer not necessarily.Ĭan you see vertical beams at either end of the wall? The "horizontal" beam going above the one you can see in your photo (I assume that's what you're meaning) will finish off in the same way. What do you reckon? I'm happy to do more destruction, but didn't know which direction to go to get useful information - and I'd rather leave as little patching up as possible if I do end up not taking the whole thing down! I don't know quite how far these extend and don't really have any idea why they're there. In addition, there were what appeared to be two very chunky horizontal beams running across the top of the wall. Normally, I'd be pretty confident it's therefore not bearing any weight, but it's a fairly big span - about 19 feet.
![plaster and lathe walls plaster and lathe walls](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/EWKT0E/victorian-house-lath-and-plaster-with-blown-plaster-removed-to-show-EWKT0E.jpg)
The joist immediately above doesn't appear to be resting on anything in the wall (I could push a knife underneath it without too much difficulty). I made a few holes today where the wall meets the ceiling, which confirmed it's a lath and plaster wall. There's nothing on the ground floor underneath the wall and, above, there is a parallel wall offset by about a foot or two.
![plaster and lathe walls plaster and lathe walls](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l7BjS7HIKnc/maxresdefault.jpg)
It's a first floor flat in a relatively old (mid-late 19th century, I think) bank building. I'm trying to work out if an internal wall in my flat is load bearing, and thought I'd tap into the wealth of PH knowledge - don't worry, I will check with a structural engineer before I take it out completely!