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I just received the “reason” why they chose a longer lintel on the ground floor. There was a window opening on the first floor close to the doorway which we will fill up and the lintel on the ground floor is used to support the additional load of blocks. Bearing in mind this window opening is...

Tony, in the loft there is a floor beam which sits a steel lintel over a doorway. This doorway is directly above the doorway we want to widen on the ground floor. Surprisingly, this lintel only need to bear 10cm at either end when there is a large support beam sitting on it. It’s frustrating...

No harm except for a small dent in my pocket.

We want to widen the old entrance by 30cm to 1.2m clear span. They have specify a beam of 203x203x46 with length of 2.2m. They said this is due to point load from a beam directly above in the loft floor and need the longer length to spread the load. I have attached the calculations for this beam...

They seem to calculate based on the length of the beam rather clear span. Also, why does the 45 degree triangle of load not apply here? Instead they have used the load of the full column of bricks.

I got the structural calculations for the lintel. Can anyone tell me if there is anything wrong with the figures used? I don’t know why they used a calculation of 4.55x2.7 for the bricks. I did ask the “engineer” to check but they insist it is the correct beam size for the clear span of 1.8m.

Tony, I don’t understand anything that this SE does. Everything just feels wrong. For example they have specified a 40mm thick mild steel plate that is 900mm long to support a beam in the loft. I can’t seem to find a steel plate of this thickness easily.

Thanks for your reply Woody. It’s good to know that I am not completely stupid to be questioning it. My concern is dealing with building control if we don’t use what is specified in the drawings.

My SE has specified a steel beam 152x152x30 with 10mm plate welded to top and bottom flange. This is support a clear span of 1.8m for a patio door. In their calculations, they said the load on each bearing is 33.8kN so total load is 67.6kN. From what l have tried to understand about how to...

Thanks for the drawing Tony. 1. We want to use EWI on the whole house so didn’t want to use cavity wall for the extension which gives some extra space inside. 2. So here you suggest floor joists for the first floor across the span from old gable to new gable wall. 3. Not sure I understand this...

Sorry for harping on about this but just hate the thought of paying £600 for 2 beams that we may not actually need. The SE was a packaged deal with the architect so I have never actually spoken to engineer. Architect now admits that he won’t use him again for future projects. I have also found...

Thanks for replying tony...the builder just said the same thing about the timber beam so need to go buy the steel now.

Finally managed to get a reply from SE who has offered an alternative of 2 steel beams across the width of each floor (with joists running perpendicular to it). This seems to be more logical in terms of providing lateral restraint. Also the new side wall is over 6m so we do need a beam in the...

Thanks Tony for your advice. The wall is actually 215mm thick. So is this still ok without the windpost?

Beams. We are doing internal modelling of existing house and loft conversion.

Don't you need to submit structural calculations for building control? Is this something you can easily do yourself?

I am not happy with the design especially now some of you have confirmed that it may not be unnecessary but not sure what we can do. To go to another SE will mean delays and cost. Here is a view of the front elevation. Tony, so the ceiling joists are correct?

Here is a drawing of the side extension showing the steel column and beam. SE propose plates at the bottom which is then bolted to blocks. The blocks are fitted inside flanges of column. The beam is bolted to the edge of column (not on top) and the other end of the beam is to be fitted into the...

Hello, We are building an 2 storey side extension which is 3.8m x 6.5m using solid wall construction (celcon foundation blocks). On the ground floor, we are building an internal wall using blocks. On the 1st floor, the side wall is spans the length of extension without any internal partition...

Hello, We are building an 2 storey side extension which is 3.8m x 6.5m using solid wall construction (celcon foundation blocks). On the ground floor, we are building an internal wall using blocks. On the 1st floor, the side wall is spans the length of extension without any internal partition...