A timber stud wall is one of the quickest ways to change how a house works. It can turn one large bedroom into two, close off a utility area, form a walk-in wardrobe or create a hallway where there was none.
It looks simple, and the framing itself is not complicated. The parts that need thought are the rules, the door, and everything that has to happen before the plasterer arrives.
Do you need building regulations approval?
The government's Planning Portal says Building Regulations will normally apply to building a new internal wall, removing one, or forming an opening in one. It also advises taking care before removing any internal wall, because some walls carry load from above.
In practice, the answer depends on what the new wall does to the house. Your local building control team can tell you whether your particular plan needs an application, and it is worth asking before work starts rather than after.
Fire escape and inner rooms
The most common catch is the inner room. Approved Document B, the fire safety guidance for houses, describes an inner room as one you can only leave by passing through another room. If a new wall creates a bedroom that can only be reached through another room, the guidance limits when that is acceptable, for example where the room has a suitable emergency escape window and is on a storey no higher than 4.5 metres above ground. Building control can confirm what applies.
Sound
The Planning Portal notes that, depending on the use of the new room, a new wall may also need to provide sound insulation. Even where it is not required, packing the wall with acoustic insulation is worth considering between bedrooms, or next to a bathroom.
Light, air and the window
Before deciding where the wall goes, look at the windows and radiators. A room without its own window will be dark and hard to ventilate, and a cold room without a radiator is rarely used. A wall that lands in the middle of a window is a common mistake that is very hard to undo.
Planning the door
Decide which way the door opens, and check that it will not clash with a radiator, a light switch or a wardrobe. A pocket door or a sliding door can help in a tight space but needs planning into the framing from the start.
The door opening is framed and lined as part of the stud wall, so the lining needs to be square and plumb if the door is going to hang true. A badly set lining is the most common reason a new door never closes properly.
Electrics and pipes
New switches and sockets usually go in at first fix, before the wall is boarded. The Planning Portal explains that adding sockets or lights to an existing circuit is not notifiable outside special locations such as around baths and showers, but a new circuit or a new consumer unit is. Either way, use a qualified electrician and agree the positions before the boards go up.
Any pipes or cables running through the wall need to be planned into the framing, with noggins placed so they do not clash and the fixings for heavy items such as a TV or wall cupboard are already in place.
The order of work
A typical stud wall job runs like this:
- Set out the wall from the existing walls, floor and ceiling.
- Fix the head and sole plates, then the studs and noggins.
- Frame and line the door opening.
- First fix electrics and any pipework.
- Insulation if required.
- Board and plaster, or board and tape.
- Second fix: door hung, skirting, architrave and sockets.
Why setting out matters
Older houses are rarely square, and a new wall that is built square to a wonky room can look worse than one that follows the room sensibly. Setting out from the existing walls, and checking for level and plumb, decides how well everything after it fits, from the plasterboard to the skirting.
On jobs where several trades are involved, the carpenter's first fix sets the pace for everyone else. Our page on stud walls and first fix carpentry explains how that fits around the electrician and plasterer, and the same planning applies when a wall is moved as part of a new kitchen, as covered in how long it takes to fit a kitchen.
Need a carpenter?
LGR Carpentry and Joinery builds stud partition walls, door openings and first fix carpentry across Surrey and Sussex, including Horsham, for homeowners and for builders and developers working to drawings.
Read more about stud walls & first fix, for builders, architects & developers and kitchen & bathroom fitting, or see the work Luke does in Horsham. You can also ask for a free quote.