Recent content by wagster

One thing's for sure, the customer needs to be made aware of all facts and you both need to agree on the course of action.

Well that was one of the scariest bits of building work I've undertaken! However, there's a lintel in and the wall above has been built up between the needles and is setting. The old mortar was fairly soft but nothing moved that wasn't supposed to. Tomorrow I will remove the two outer props...

A little more exploration done and I've picked up 2 of 4' by 6" pre-compressed concrete lintels from the builders merchants. The internal wall continues up into the first floor and up to the stack - there is a small step where the 1st floor joists rest, so it's load-bearing. I've propped above...

Nope - the stud wall is much newer than the joists which run over the top of it and rest on the wall. Thanks for all your advice - it's really helpful to get a more experienced pair of eyes on it. I'll chat to the builders merchants tomorrow about lintels - I think I'll put a concrete lintel...

Ok - I can pick up a concrete lintel easy enough. I'll ask about a steel - I assume that when you say metal you mean RSJ, there seem to be a lot of flimsy-looking metal lintels about. So the plot thickens. I opened up a good 5' of plaster where the lintel would be as that will all have to...

Great. Also - I was going to put in 4" x 4" timbers for lintels as a I have lot of it around - most of this house has timber lintels anyway. Any reason to use concrete?

True, it doesn't project inside, but if you look at the exterior pic it doesn't project outside either! I have once seen into another section of the wall from the floor above and I saw the top of a block wall - so I'm suspecting something a bit like this is going on. We might need to get some...

I presume by rear-projecting, you mean it projects into the room but not outside the house? I'll open up some more this evening and see if I can get an external width on the c/b.

Thanks ree - that's great news about the joists and the needle - I feel more confident now, although I won't be taking any chances! Glad you agree about doing it in two sections. We did a bit more exploring last night and cut out the door area from the plasterwork - that fireplace was...

The external wall is behind the one with the lintel, at the back of the fireplace. I was planning to open up and secure the chimney breast first, then open up the external wall afterwards. I could try and put a needle through both and do them both at the same time, but this is one of the...

We want to put a doorway through a rubble/stone wall where there's currently an old fireplace. I'm planning to start by moving the chimney breast lintel up to the height of a doorway. I'm going to break through the chimney breast just above the final height of the lintel, prop the chimney...

Pictures of our conservatory build