A question about home renovation
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When renovating residential homes these days, the first step is usually to modify the plumbing and electrical systems, which involves making many grooves in the walls (especially load-bearing walls); sometimes these grooves look like ant holes. I wonder if this could have an impact on the structural integrity of the house If I don’t want to make grooves in the wall but still need to change the route of the plumbing and electrical wiring, do any experts in civil engineering have any suggestions? Please give some advice. Thanks. This post was last edited by hutom123 on 2009-3-13 16:56.]
In my opinion, creating many grooves on the walls of a house should not pose a threat to the safety of the entire building, as long as these grooves do not compromise the wall structure or the main structural elements or steel framework of the house.
The situation described by the poster is quite common in real life; some people even remove part of certain load-bearing walls. “Making many grooves in the walls (especially load-bearing walls) will definitely affect the structural safety. This is a weak point when there are problems. If it is a movable partition wall (non-load-bearing wall), it is possible.
An outsider’s view: The many small grooves made in the wall are meant for installing conduits and sleeves; they are usually around 50 mm wide, and should not have much impact on a regular wall surface. I think if some special bricks or custom forms are used, it can be prepared in advance. There is no need to cut grooves in the already finished walls. It only causes trouble for the design and preliminary construction. Haha, in layman’s terms: lol
What I want to say is that in modern house designs, various pipelines are already installed during the construction phase. However, different people have different requirements, and it’s difficult to meet each household’s specific needs. Faced with this issue, we tried an approach that ensured the structural aspects met regulatory requirements: the outer walls remained unchanged, while the interior could be partitioned according to the residents’ wishes. The locations of the bathrooms and kitchens stayed fixed, but the arrangements inside could vary greatly. None of the 48 households had identical layouts, which eventually made even the construction team reluctant to continue working on the project. Personally, I think that when it comes to renovation, one should first focus on the structure; don’t act on assumptions, otherwise a good house can turn into a dangerous one! It will cause endless problems in the future.
First, prioritize safety; only then consider comfort and aesthetics. Making holes in load-bearing walls makes the dwelling feel unstable.