Expert: Stephen Major (Owner--Major Design Group) - 9/9/2007

Question
Hello i would appreciate your advice- we have a kitchen in the house we just bought that evidently was a porch or garage at one time. the older cabinets and tile we have ripped out and the room is enpty at this time. There is a "shelf" running around the room caused by an inner wall of bricks about 2 feet high. It is not consistent around the room the back 3rd doesn't have it and one spot rings hollow when tapped under a window which makes me think that was a door at one time (light switch next to it)and the wall was built out to match the rest of the brick and then it was all plastered. there doesn't appear to be interlocking bricks between this wall and the exterior brick wall. I removed one top brick and can see the exterior brick wall. My question is- can I remove this wall? the cabinets that were there were notched in the back to fit flush to the wall at the top of the counter and from the front you couldn't see the work but they were built in place i was told. initially i was told to build the upper wall out to make it all even but after he looked at the brick more he said it's not supporting anything and that i could probably take it out because the outer brick was what was supporting the wall and it was basically two brick walls side by side. Could have initially been a 2 brick wide knee high wall that had screens or glass above it for the porch.the room is on a slab and you enter it from a a 3 tep stair from the rest of the house which is on a crawl. I hope i have included enough info thanks fo your help!

Answer
Joe,

What you are describing sounds like unconventional construction, however in your location (you didn't provide it) this may be typical.

The primary question is: does the brick wall support the framed wall above?  Typically a load-bearing brick wall, even a kneewall as you are describing, is at a minimum 2 bricks thick, with the inner and outer faces bonded in some way.  Otherwise, a single layer of brick is called a "veneer" and is usually installed on the exterior face of a baring wall, either wood-stud, metal-stud, or masonry.  

In your case the wall above the brick may be bearing on it (and thus any loads above (roof, floor, etc.), so it may need the inner layer for support.  

Unfortunately it is difficult for me to assess accurately without a site visit or detailed photos.  I recommend that you contact an experienced local contractor or mason and have them evaluate the situation.  

Best of luck and please let me know if you have additional questions.  If you want to open the wall a bit more and take some photos, you can send them to info@majordesigngroup.com .

--Steve Major