We recently renovated a house that was built in the 1950's. Most of the houses in that era are known as post war split levels or two story bi-levels. This house happen to be a split level and as almost all split levels from that time period, it had small to medium sized rooms that were neatly separated. The house worked well for the time period, the family of that era had ample space to live and play; at the same time each room was large enough to provide space for all household activities, but many of these houses lacked a definitive style. While this layout may have worked back in the 50's, it is not highly desirable in today's market and needed to be updated.
An open floor plan creates space and more importantly the illusion of a bigger area. When dealing with post World War Two houses and houses all the way up into the 1980's you are most likely dealing with a boxed in type of house. Boxed in meaning, if you look at an overhead view of the structure, you will see 4 walled boxes making up the layout of the house. In the house we were renovating, we wanted to get away from this look and give the house that modern feel. An open floor plan does just that, it literally "opens" walls or enlarges door ways to the point where the wall is gone.
When removing walls to create more visible space you must consider a few things, first is the wall load bearing? This is the most important thing to remember because a load bearing wall is carrying the weight of the structure and floors above. Or in other terms these walls have beams inside of the wall (made from two by fours or two by sixes) that support the main structure of the house. A house is built and there are certain walls or more specifically certain beams of wood that are strategically placed, these walls carry the majority of the weight of the house. Load bearing walls can still be removed, but it will take some structural engineering and adding additional strength to the current beams that are in place. These beams can be dressed up and appear as decorative post or anything you can think of to fit your design. But just remember, load bearing walls can be opened up and still part of your floor plan, you will just need to keep some of the beams that hold up your structure.
The other issues with removing walls deals with what lies inside of the walls. Electrical lines, plumbing lines, and heating pipes are the big issues, along with duct work for forced air, these things are common in walls, but should only slow you down and not stop your project. Most likely, anything that you may run into inside the wall can be moved but some of the work can get expensive. Go into your basement or crawl space, right below where the wall (that your removing is located), in this spot you can see what type of lines are running "up through" the walls. From this you can determine a course of action. You will know what is in the wall and what has to be done with it.
After you have done these things, you next step is to start removing partitions. Ultimately the easiest walls will have nothing inside of them, but do not get discouraged if you run into some issues inside of the wall. These things can be changed and in the end it will be worth it when you house has an open floor plan. By creating an open floor plan, you will ultimately be modernizing your home, which will add value when you decide to sell (and make it more livable while you are still there).
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