Remodeling on a Budget? Tear Down the Walls

What’s the primary motivation for tackling any room renovation, whether it’s a living room, bedroom or bathroom? Aesthetics, according to HomeAdvisor’s State of Home Spending Report, released in June. Especially if you’re looking to remodel your living room, improving the appearance of the space and boosting your overall enjoyment of it are almost definitely the end goals.

While many home renovations can be a costly undertaking, there are still several ways you can remodel the look and feel of yours when on a budget.  Here’s one that is admittedly a bigger project, but can completely revamp your home: Tear Down the Walls.

Granted, this project is not always feasible or budget-friendly, as a load-bearing wall could cost upwards of $10,000 to remove, because a support beam is needed to hold the weight the wall will no longer carry. But if the wall is merely a partition between rooms, but tearing down the walls in your living room for a more open floor plan is a common preference among homeowners in older homes, and the expert’s say that opening up the space can be done, and can even be a DIY project.  So if you’ve confirmed the wall doesn’t hold weight and have located any electrical wires, and if the thought of grabbing a sledgehammer and working through your, um, issues sounds like fun, you should be able to demolish most of the wall yourself.

How much will it cost? HomeAdvisor reports removing a wall ranges in cost between $300 and $10,000, depending on whether the wall is load-bearing. Keep in mind the cost of making the now-joined rooms cohesive – you’ll have to fill in flooring and wall gaps where the wall once was.

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Photo Credit:  Dimitry Kalinovsky / Shutterstock.com