Fitting an RSJ

[Kraythorne]

We are knocking through a support wall between a galley kitchen and dining room and I'm looking for some advice on how I should approach this regarding building regs.

Getting the actual RSJ installed wont be a problem, I just need to understand what size/type of RSJ I should fit and how much of an overlap into the side walls I am going to need.

The support wall is single brick, and goes all the way up between two bedrooms, towards the back of the house. The load bearing for the roof travels down support walls further in the house as the opening i am looking to make is below the eaves. Obviously I still need to support the bedroom dividing wall above it though.

The opening I am making will span 6 feet 2 inches and there will be enough brickwork either side to allow up to 8 inches of overlap for the RSJ.

Is the math fairly straight forward for calculating the RSJ installation for this job or should I pay a structural engineer to tell me what is required?

I don't mind overkill in terms of the size of RSJ required if it will save me cost on the structural engineer and pass building regs.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Shytalkz]

Is £80-100 or so too really much to pay an SE to do some numbers for you? You'll save more on the cost of the beam that's designed for you over one that gets oversized to save you employing his services. And you get calculations to satisfy the LA.

Also, if you don't do the work with LABC approval, then you've got a potential problem when you come to sell, which to get it okayed will cost you £££s more than if you do it the way that you should.

Your choice, but it's false economy.

 

[Kraythorne]

Thanks for the response - you're right.

I didn't realise SE's were so cheap, I was expecting more like £500!

 

[Shytalkz]

No, not for a beam!

 

[^woody^]

I didn't realise SE's were so cheap,

A compliment or an observation

 

[noseall]

L.A. will take their cut as well.

the poor builder is left with very little with which to feed his kids.

 

[Kraythorne]

So much for £80-£100!

Price Quoted below....

MINOR WORKS:

We can arrange for a structural engineer to visit the property, inspect and provide a full written report together with calculations/sketches adequate for a competent builder to work to and support any Local Authority application – our fee would be £330 plus VAT for the initial inspection and one calculation. If there are multiple calculations, ie additional wall removals, stairs etc then these would be at an additional charge of £90 plus VAT each. YOU SHOULD ALLOW A BUDGET OF £420 plus VAT AS A WORSE SCENARIO.

 

[Shytalkz]

If you've got drawings, send them to me and I'll do your design for you.

Quick before I up my charges to suit

 

[Shytalkz]

To be fair, they have allowed for a site visit and a report, for some reason, which are £250 of that cost. The actual design cost falls bang in the middle of the figures I gave you.

If you've no drawings, then someone will need to visit and take some dims, but you don't need a report: alternatively a sketch layout, of the property (both levels), with dims and supplemented by photos of the outside will suffice for design purposes.

 

[Kraythorne]

Thanks shy

I have scale drawings (plan and elevation) of the ground floor (i.e. dining room and kitchen, hall and living room) but will need to create some for the bedrooms above.

I can also show where the roof load is on other support walls if this makes a difference.

Uploading Photo's of the exterior as well as the effected interior rooms upstairs and downstairs also won't be a problem if this helps.

 

[Shytalkz]

A sketch of upstairs with some dims will be enough, no need for scale stuff for up there. Idea of roof layout would be good too!

 

[Shytalkz]

[email protected], then I'll reply from my work addy.

 

[^woody^]

LOL I'll do the calcs now.

Lets see ....

178 x102 x 19 UB

Catnic CN5XA

100 x 150 RC lintol

 

[Shytalkz]

"single brick" - so presumably 9".....durr

 

[Kraythorne]

Email sent