hide steel beam in knock through project

[hPUWu574]

Hi

I am knocking through a supporting wall between my living and dining room in my 1930's semi.

The wall only supports the wall above, it does not support the floor joists.

I don't want any visible nibs and I want the beam to sit between the ground and first floor.

My idea was to insert one end of the beam into the party wall but not sure how I can support the other end without having a nib.

How can I knock through and keep the walls seamless and hide the beam?

I called a structural engineer but he would only agree to plan for nibs and wasn't interested in getting involved otherwise. Should I take his word for it? I will spare no expense to have a seamless solution.

 

[^woody^]

but not sure how I can support the other end without having a nib.

Well, what's there to support it?

 

[hPUWu574]

I was hoping another beam could be placed in the wall at the opposite end to the party wall and then have that beam support the beam which spans the room.

 

[cjard]

plans? drawings? anything worth a thousand words?

 

[hPUWu574]

sorry for the lack of detail in my question. please see plan below...

Untitled

• hPUWu574
• 27 May 2015
• 1

 

[^woody^]

Rebuild that pier in more suitable bricks or replace it with a column, or span a single beam over both doorways. And I'm not an engineer, FFS.

 

[tony1851]

1. You don't need a pier in the party wall - a simple padstone will do there;

2. As suggested above, a second steel beam (5x3?) across both openings will take some load off the brickwork between the doors, and re-distribute it to the brickwork either side of the doors. Simple, really; the SEs you've spoken to want to think firmly within the box.