Hi,
Can someone give me a rough idea of how much weight bears on the back wall of my house? I am trying to work out if it is feasible to open up the whole of the back of the house when i plan to extend next summer.
Details:
Mid terrace house, 2 floors @ 8 foot floor to ceiling hight , the wall is Cavity and both leaves are brick, wall approx 17' long, the joists (7x2) run parallel to the wall, the roof is supported by this wall, and the loft rafters pick up on it, so it is supporting the ceiling of the 1st floor.
At the moment there are 2 large openings, one in the kitchen where it has been knocked through by previous owner, and one for patio doors in the dining room. There is a central bit of wall aprox 4 foot, and this is what i would like to remove when i extend.
I understand that this span is rather large, however at the moment i am about to construct a new internal wall, this wall is not currently going to be load bearing, however it has occurred to me that i could make it such, so that when i extended i could span from the top of the new extension wall to the new internal wall with an RSJ, in order to pick up some of the load from any RSJ used to span the existing wall like an 'H' This having the advantage that i can make the foundations for the new walls any size necessary.
If anyone can follow this and tell me if they think its feasible, and also roughly what sort of load the current wall is imposing, i would appreciate it.
Cheers!
Can someone give me a rough idea of how much weight bears on the back wall of my house? I am trying to work out if it is feasible to open up the whole of the back of the house when i plan to extend next summer.
Details:
Mid terrace house, 2 floors @ 8 foot floor to ceiling hight , the wall is Cavity and both leaves are brick, wall approx 17' long, the joists (7x2) run parallel to the wall, the roof is supported by this wall, and the loft rafters pick up on it, so it is supporting the ceiling of the 1st floor.
At the moment there are 2 large openings, one in the kitchen where it has been knocked through by previous owner, and one for patio doors in the dining room. There is a central bit of wall aprox 4 foot, and this is what i would like to remove when i extend.
I understand that this span is rather large, however at the moment i am about to construct a new internal wall, this wall is not currently going to be load bearing, however it has occurred to me that i could make it such, so that when i extended i could span from the top of the new extension wall to the new internal wall with an RSJ, in order to pick up some of the load from any RSJ used to span the existing wall like an 'H' This having the advantage that i can make the foundations for the new walls any size necessary.
If anyone can follow this and tell me if they think its feasible, and also roughly what sort of load the current wall is imposing, i would appreciate it.
Cheers!