HELP!!!! Load bearing wall knocked thru no building cert

Hi

Building regs advice needed! AGAIN

About 5 years ago we partially knocked down a load bearing wall to create kitchen diner. The solid brick wall was supporting joists above, 1 set running from each side of the house overlapping in the middle over this supporting wall. Builder assured us he was doing it to building regs and got an RSJ to bridge this gap of around 180cm. Before boxing it in he advised we should take photos for future evidence of compliance........of course we forgot and the following day we returned from work and it was boxed up!


Now i'm worried that this could affect chances of future sales/price and i feel i need to get the relevant certificates.

What is the best course of action?

i've done lots of reading ......and done nothing to comfort myself! it true what they say a little bit of knowledge is dangerous!

i believe i need a structural engineer to check what is in place is correct....can this be checked without ripping all the plaster down? and then approach BC......is this called regularisation or would it just be an inspection? not sure what the difference is other than price!

i have even pulled up some of the floor boards upstairs and found the RSJ i dont think this will satisfy the SE


My understanding is i need SE to work out what RSJ i need for load (currently 4inchs wide), RSJ needs to sit on piers with 15cm overlap on concrete padstones and then boxed in with double thickness fireproof plaster board? even if i open up certain areas can you identify all of this retrospectively?

many thanks P.s for a better look at pics they r in my albums

If this has been done for five years, and the house is still up, then its safe to assume that the steel is adequate.

This type of work would normally get picked up at sale time, and is an opportunity for the potential buyer to knock some money off the asking price. At which time you either go through the rigmarole of regularisation or just pay £80 or so for an "indemnity" insurance policy which helps you sell, keeps the Solicitors happy, but is absolutely worthless to the buyer.

1.8m is not a great distance, and a 150mm or 175mm steel would do. If you can measure from the floor and it is 102mm wide (which it looks like it is) then it will be at least 178mm deep and be adequate.

You don't need a SE to do calcs now

If you want to regularise now, many councils (including Birmingham) wont require calculations for standard beams in standard domestic situations - ie like yours. So they should be able to just see the beam from your viewpoint in the floor and approve the work. Just by viewing the plaster at the bearings then it should be obvious if there is a problem, so there should be no need to hack any plaster off there either

thanks again woody, bearings? are these weak spots, like the corners of the boxing? Also would it be seen as a fire issue? if not boxed in properly?

I'm in Dudley, are they as relaxed as Birmingham?
I have no receipt to show the work was done 5 yrs ago so will they just take my word for it? although i have proof the kitchen was done2 yrs ago so it at least shows that, as there wouldnt have been any access to kitchen without opening.

i've read about indemnities and i know they r only valid if the councils aren't alerted to breaches. I've also got some windows that aren't fensa but definately conform with Kglass & toughened glass regs (mostly marked) should i bother to get these inspected or will they snoop around and be 'alerted' to other issues?

if i dont bother with window inspections or regularisation of RSJ then will 1 indemnity cover everything in hse? or would it be separate policies for each breach?

thanks again for the advice...........maybe i can finally get some sleep!

Thought I would add my piece, just to hopefully put your mind to rest more then anything else. I am currently buying a property, had a survey done, and it picked up the fact that there was a opening that had been made and a RSJ put in place. I knew about this as the RSJ has actually been left on view, otherwise I dont think neither of us would have been more the wiser. Anyways the surveyor recommended I get my solicitor to check for BC approval. Went back to the solicitor and there was indeed no BC notifications of any sort on the property that was found during the searches. Asked him what I should do, and he said about the insurance you can get, but explained it really was a waste of time and only covers against a law suit being put against you, IF a building controller was to ever inspect your property and put forward a case against you. The chance of this ever happening are zero. Unless you decide to get an inspector involved yourself! So his advice was, the place is still standing, there are no signs of cracking or damage to the points on the wall that are holding the RSJ, no signs of movement and not to worry about it if it has passed the test of time (its been in for at least 6 years). He asked if we wanted to negotiate the price because of it, but I was happy with what I was paying for the house in the first place so didnt want to delay the process so declined.
My solicitor did recommend taking photos before I cover it up, just to prove that an RSJ was in there in the first place.
What you have to remember is at the moment, it is a buyers market and they will try anything to get the price down. Give it 3/4 years and it will be a sellers market again and if someone wants your house, this sort of problem will not bother them. Same goes with double glazing insurance.

I thought i'd comment on this as i'm in the same boat - no building regs for work done. Firstly, i'm not condoning doing the work and not getting the necessary building regs certificates / sign off, etc... It's the right thing to do and it WILL save you a lot of worry when it comes to selling BUT do not worry too much IF the work was done correctly and meets the current building regs AND you can prove it. The last bit is key. My solicitor has, after giving me a minor lecture, told me to come clean about the work done to remove the wall (which incidentally does not support the joists or walls upstairs but supports the staircase) and tell them what RSJ is in place. Fortunately I can also prove the size and length, and the fact it's sat on 10 inches of padstone each end through the numerous photos i took while renovating our house. This WILL come up on the survey but she has told me that the proof should be enough for most people - my argument is that the people wouldn't be buying the house without the open kitchen diner so take it or leave it. And as scottyboyiow mentioned you can get an indemnity policy to cover all your sins if required @ £50+VAT ish. The other option would be to get the retrospective building regs but risk them coming and opening up the work in a place where we've lovingly restored the original curved plasterwork - this is fragile (80 years old) and may never go back if they force it to be reopened meaning nobody really benefits. We also used a family electrician to rewire the entire house but did not get it officially tested and a certificate issued. This is covered by the same indemnity policy. I've learned a lesson here and I fully intend to get the necessary building regs when we move in the next month or so and start working on the new place BUT we used qualified people in the trade who happened to be family and therefore were able to save some money but still know the jobs were being done properly. In summary don't worry too much but always take photos when you get the chance as it could be the difference between someone accepting the work without insisting it's opened up, or knocking off money or worse still walking away. I'm writing this as if we have already weathered this storm - if it goes wrong i'll update the post again but cross fingers we can use the photographic evidence and if needed the indemnity policy.