Hubby to knock down wall and house ?? at weekend.... Help!

[VickyR]

Hubby is going to knock through the wall between the dining room and kitchen, I'm a worrier so I thought I'd check with you guys....

It's a supporting wall (9cm breezeblocks) with a door already in it, 2.7m long.

He has borrowed some ackros and is planning on using pieces of wood 6cm ish by 3m with these. Question 1 - is that sufficient?

The rsj on order (unpainted H) is 89 x 152 x 3m Question2 - is this strong enough?

We are trying to save money ( ) by not using a builder or structural engineer so these sizes are ones we've got from friends who are builders and the man next door (who is actually quite good at building stuff! and at least he is the only adjoing property...)

According to the council we don't need planning but building regs will come and have a look next week (if house is still standing...)

Now hubby has excellent life insurance but I do like the house so would rather it didn't fall down...can anyone help?

 

[JohnD]

I'm surprised you weren't required to submit plans to the building Control office, which would have included your questins about the beam and its supports. the plans are quite easy for this kind of job. I drew mine on the kitchen table.

Is the BCO not coming round until after it's done?

It will be very tiresome if he identifies a problem and it has to be done again.

 

[VickyR]

They want to visit when the rsj is in place and the ackros are still supporting too. So they'll be able to see everything

Everyone I know/have spoken too is surprised we don't need to do plans... I'm doubting we were given the right info...

 

[2scoops0406]

Trying to save money is all well and good as long as your house doesn't collapse, I think you really should get a structural engineer in PRIOR to knocking the wall down. It is not possible to tell whether any support will be strong enough without knowing what load it will have to bear.

 

[JohnD]

I bet the BCO will know. They've probably seen hundreds, if not thousands, of houses similar to yours in your area.

 

[noseall]

your b.c.o. WILL require a copy of the structural calculations for the steel and the padstones. they treat each structural scenario as if it were unique, even if your n'bour has done exactly the same thing in a similar house.

this does cost £££s i,m afraid, but is an unavoidable necessity.

even if you were to put in a piece of steel that were way over the top, they would still want calc's.

 

[diyisfree]

I had a neighbour a few years ago who was a bit of a self proclaimed DIY king. Anyway he decided to knock through the living/dining room.

The joists for the 1st floor were staggered on the wall that he removed. You will NEVER guess what he did to take the load of the continuing wall on the 1st floor and the fact that all the joists ends were supported on the wall?

He drilled the joists and then bolted pieces of 6x2 to them. He thought that the load would then be transferred to the outer walls The house came up for sale about 4 months later. all i know is the estate agent walked away and must have made a few phone calls because it never did sell until the guy called in a builder to put it right.

I never personally saw what it looked like but neighbours stopped going round for a natter and a coffee for fear of the house collapsing NOT saying your hubby is going to do that, i just thought i would share a story with you.

 

[VickyR]

Thanks for all your replies.

Spoke to the council again, we DON'T need plans, just need to fill in the building regs form and send them a cheque!

We DON'T need structural engineer calculations!

I persuaded hubby not to start the demolition as I wanted to check with a SE anyway...

By a strange twist of fate the BCO called round by mistake - our form got onto the wrong pile - and has said the steel (still on the driveway) looks fine (but we need to paint it).

So looks like the demolition is back on!

 

[2scoops0406]

'kin 'ell How do the BCO know what the steel is going to be resting on etc etc, madness, sheer madness.

 

[Deluks]

the plans are quite easy for this kind of job. I drew mine on the kitchen table.

Surely a piece of paper would've been cheaper to post???

 

[JohnD]