We've an external wall - ground floor of 2 storey house - 1700's.
Wall is stone, about 600mm thick plus an additional double brick skin on the outside (plus rendered)
Window opening is 1.5 metres span
Wall (approx 600 mm thick) above is currently supported by (from the inside out):
-ancient beam approx 180mm square - quite a lot of old worm damage, no rot (top of picture)
-150mm wide by 100mm deep wooden beam - loose, dodgy bearing at one end
-Thin air. We have some bricks hanging from the render above them (bottom of picture)
Upstairs floor joists bear onto the old beam, as does upstairs ancient stud wall with cob infill wall (which is approx 2" thick)
There is no sign of movement or cracking anywhere.
This is a looking up from underneath - undersides of our hanging bricks , and loose stones resting above/between the beams
This is the angled bearing of the right hand side of the beam in the middle of the picture above:
I'm not going to remove the ancient timber, but am thinking of removing the loose beam in the middle, replacing with concrete lintels and infilling to wall above. I've lots of space at the left hand end to get them in and slide back, and by removing one stone on the right I can have over 100mm bearing on each side.
So a few questions I'd be grateful for any thought on:
-Is this a sensible thing to do?
-I've total space for new lintels behind ancient timber of over 100mm height and over 350mm depth, so am thinking two lintels, each perhaps 100 by 160. Does that make sense?
-Should I attempt to attach the ancient timber to new concrete lintel alongside to tie it all together and provide extra support to timber,given the weight bearing from above (floor joists, stud and cob infill wall), if so, how?
-Is it a bit bonkers to do this without consulting a structural engineer?
-Should I be talking to building control?
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any ideas, and sorry it's a long post!
Wall is stone, about 600mm thick plus an additional double brick skin on the outside (plus rendered)
Window opening is 1.5 metres span
Wall (approx 600 mm thick) above is currently supported by (from the inside out):
-ancient beam approx 180mm square - quite a lot of old worm damage, no rot (top of picture)
-150mm wide by 100mm deep wooden beam - loose, dodgy bearing at one end
-Thin air. We have some bricks hanging from the render above them (bottom of picture)
Upstairs floor joists bear onto the old beam, as does upstairs ancient stud wall with cob infill wall (which is approx 2" thick)
There is no sign of movement or cracking anywhere.
This is a looking up from underneath - undersides of our hanging bricks , and loose stones resting above/between the beams
This is the angled bearing of the right hand side of the beam in the middle of the picture above:
I'm not going to remove the ancient timber, but am thinking of removing the loose beam in the middle, replacing with concrete lintels and infilling to wall above. I've lots of space at the left hand end to get them in and slide back, and by removing one stone on the right I can have over 100mm bearing on each side.
So a few questions I'd be grateful for any thought on:
-Is this a sensible thing to do?
-I've total space for new lintels behind ancient timber of over 100mm height and over 350mm depth, so am thinking two lintels, each perhaps 100 by 160. Does that make sense?
-Should I attempt to attach the ancient timber to new concrete lintel alongside to tie it all together and provide extra support to timber,given the weight bearing from above (floor joists, stud and cob infill wall), if so, how?
-Is it a bit bonkers to do this without consulting a structural engineer?
-Should I be talking to building control?
Thanks for reading, and thanks for any ideas, and sorry it's a long post!
