How to remove brick wardrobe?

[angecrawford]

Hi we have bricked wardrobe built when the house was designed. 

we have put in these standalone wardrobes but they don’t offer enough space…

can we removed the bricked bit to add a wider wardrobe to the rooms? Or will we need an engineer? 

Or is there another suggestion you can give? Has anyone done this? 

thank you 

Ange 

[EricL · Accepted solution]

Hello @angecrawford 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about your wardrobe.

The only way to confirm that the brick wall is not load bearing is to get a registered builder or an engineer. 

However, after looking at your picture, I believe you can make better use of the space by building custom shelving and doors. This will allow you to use all the space available and you won't need to have the brick wall torn down.

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Nailbag]

Hi @angecrawford the simplest and most efficient use of the existing space would be as @EricL suggested with a custom build wardrobe. This can be made to fit the existing space perfectly both width and height. 

Your two options are either to assemble it yourself with a Kaboodle custom solution through Bunnings or have one installed by a local cabinet maker. The later will most likely provide the best use of the space with a combination of full width drawers, middle level and high level cupboards with internal shelving. Cost wise I don’t think there would be a huge difference. If you can stick to white melamine then coat will be kept to a minimum. Timber veneers literally doubles the price.

regards Nailbag. 

[Dave-1]

Morning @angecrawford 

How much wider are you thinking of wardrobe wise? 

I was thinking along the same line as @EricL and @Nailbag  with a built to purpose wardrobe to use the entire enclosed area, effectivily a built in built in Mosty because of the work involved to remove the brick wall, fix cornice and also fix/redo the flooring to make it constant. If you want the wardrobe to substantially larger then the project definently sounds like it would be worth looking into (registed builder to access if its carrying any load)

You could always extend the wardrobe to the left of the photo with a mirrored strip or a type that suits the new built in wardrobe so you dont notice the "wall" So Effectivly wardrobe, strip, wardrobe is what the idea would see.

Dave

[angecrawford]

Thanks everyone.  That makes sense! I appreciate the help and advice.  I think we will go for built ins:)