speculating

[Steve]

I'm bored and was wondering if it would be possible to remove the wall in red below? I am intelligent enough to see that it supports the floor above, as the joists run at right angles. And it also takes a lot of weight of the 2 thermalite walls above, via the joists. There is, however, no wall above the red one. What sort of work would be involved in this? Could it be done to leave a flat ceiling or would the RSJ have to be taller? House built in the 40's.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Anything's possible with enough money thrown at it!
Assuming the stairs don't get in the way, a UB spanning between the 2 external walls (depth approx. 1/20th span) would need a flat plate welded to the bottom on 1 side to support the joists (which would have to be trimmed back a bit on the same side) in order to get the UB into the depth of the existing joists. Biggest problem I expect, (apart from the hassle and extra expense of doing it this way) would be losing the steel in the floor zone unless the existing joists are already a good depth. Comprende!

Doh! Didn't notice that the span's on your dwg, As Deluks says it could span off the corner of the stair cupboard depth of beam would be about 175.

 

[Deluks]

Well I'm bored so I'll chip in with my thoughts.
The depth of the floor should be taken into account, if for hexample the joists are 8" then the steel will need to be no deeper than that to be flush. 3.5 metres is quite a span but I think that a suitable sized steel of that depth is available, but it will be very very heavy!

The ends of the joists will need to be got at to affix them to a new timber in the web of the steel, very fiddly and you'll need to redo the ceilings in the kitchen and in the dining room.

Much better to have a bit of the wall hanging down between the rooms, much easier and cheaper. I know all in one kitchen diners are trendy but with a 'bit sticking down' the seperation you'll get will help define the areas better, and you can give kitchen and dining room slightly different decor without it looking too odd.

ps, I'd watch yourself going up and down them there stairs

 

[Ossy]

Isn't boredom fun

Yup - it can be done.

As Del says - what's wrong with a downstand? I spent ages designing a steel option to keep it within the floor depth, then the architect decided he wanted a downstand to give a 'framing' effect to the new extension! For the spans you've got I'd have thought the floor joists would be fairly deep, giving you some space to play with. It'll be cheaper to get designed and easier to install (cheaper again )

Have you thought about a timber beam? Not sure if it would fit into your decor, but I love to see a nice exposed oak beam. It'd be within the realms of definite possibility to get something that would work, plus you can give yourself some brownie points for stying up/saving carbon emissions.

 

[Steve]

Thanks for the comments guys I appreciate it and I understand what you're saying. The main reason I asked was because my mum is thinking of moving house, and I thought I could persuade her to stay by showing her whats possible By knocking this wall through, she could have a bigger kitchen, a bigger "feeling" dining room. (There is an addition on the other side of the stairs with the lounge, and a conservatory on the back of the kitchen). I even drew a plan of the kitchen as it would be, with the aid of the MFI catalogue!

I guess it doesn't really matter if there's say a few inches on the ceiling, it could be made into a feature. The only major issue I can foresee is the floor levels are slightly different due to the kitchen having a concrete floor and the dining room having floorboards. Why was it done like this??? They even buried the water main in the concrete, when the other half of the kitchen is floorboards and could have been brought in there! This bit even used to be the bathroom! Madness!