Hello all, my name's Nicky and I'm a carpenter, though most of my work in recent years has centred around formwork/steelfixing and composite concrete flooring etc.
Good to be a part of this forum! I had a look for the usual "Introduce Yourself" thread so as to show the proper etiquette, but I did not find one. Hope no one minds me jumping in with a query!
I am undertaking the extension and loft conversion of our home, my plans are passed and the structural engineer who is currently working on a few beam calculations for Building Control etc. So far so good, though planning did take an absolute age to come through. Must have been 3 months, if not more. (I'm in N Ireland)
My house is really just a normal, end of terrace timber frame, just over 30 years old. These plans almost double the floor space of the dwelling, so its a big enough undertaking in relation to the modest existing building.
On to my query, then! Whilst I'll likely hear from the SE by next week, I have been pondering a design aspect of my openings. The one in question relates to the existing rear of the house, which will be opened up entirely. A flitch beam will be taking care of the joists/inside leaf. The outside leaf obviously requires an RSJ/beam design. as this space will essentially be one huge new kitchen, I've tried to be clever and allowed for any possible returns/piers/goalposts for the RSJ to be concealed almost entirely behind the units. This I am satisfied with.
However, I also came up with the solution of having a central island where my existing wall is, and having a central support column disguised therein. In drawing this up I perhaps was subconsciously picturing "lally" columns that one finds in the USA, which are essentially 76mm hollow pipe sections, that are often filled with concrete. Top and bottom plates are usually part of this arrangement. Not too dissimilar to an Acrow, really.
As the total span is just over 5500mm, obviously a central support helps me out with my beam design and going for a flush ceiling etc. However, now that I'm coming to examine this aspect more closely, I'm not exactly sure what the lowest profile column solution is that will meet UK regs. As mentioned I was hoping to have a 76mm steel hollow pipe section fabricated with bottom plate welded, affixed to pad, and 300mm top plate welded for support or possible heading of a pair of RSJs over the column.
I'm now starting to doubt this will suffice. I hope it can be made to work but, if more knowledgeable folk think not, are there any thoughts as to the most discreet support that could be installed in the centre of the room and island unit? The discretion of the centre support is actually quite key to the aesthetic of the room, and if it were too cumbersome, I would nearly actually go to the extreme of spanning the length in its entirety!
Apologies for the long winded post! Any thoughts gratefully received!
Thanks, Nicky
Good to be a part of this forum! I had a look for the usual "Introduce Yourself" thread so as to show the proper etiquette, but I did not find one. Hope no one minds me jumping in with a query!
I am undertaking the extension and loft conversion of our home, my plans are passed and the structural engineer who is currently working on a few beam calculations for Building Control etc. So far so good, though planning did take an absolute age to come through. Must have been 3 months, if not more. (I'm in N Ireland)
My house is really just a normal, end of terrace timber frame, just over 30 years old. These plans almost double the floor space of the dwelling, so its a big enough undertaking in relation to the modest existing building.
On to my query, then! Whilst I'll likely hear from the SE by next week, I have been pondering a design aspect of my openings. The one in question relates to the existing rear of the house, which will be opened up entirely. A flitch beam will be taking care of the joists/inside leaf. The outside leaf obviously requires an RSJ/beam design. as this space will essentially be one huge new kitchen, I've tried to be clever and allowed for any possible returns/piers/goalposts for the RSJ to be concealed almost entirely behind the units. This I am satisfied with.
However, I also came up with the solution of having a central island where my existing wall is, and having a central support column disguised therein. In drawing this up I perhaps was subconsciously picturing "lally" columns that one finds in the USA, which are essentially 76mm hollow pipe sections, that are often filled with concrete. Top and bottom plates are usually part of this arrangement. Not too dissimilar to an Acrow, really.
As the total span is just over 5500mm, obviously a central support helps me out with my beam design and going for a flush ceiling etc. However, now that I'm coming to examine this aspect more closely, I'm not exactly sure what the lowest profile column solution is that will meet UK regs. As mentioned I was hoping to have a 76mm steel hollow pipe section fabricated with bottom plate welded, affixed to pad, and 300mm top plate welded for support or possible heading of a pair of RSJs over the column.
I'm now starting to doubt this will suffice. I hope it can be made to work but, if more knowledgeable folk think not, are there any thoughts as to the most discreet support that could be installed in the centre of the room and island unit? The discretion of the centre support is actually quite key to the aesthetic of the room, and if it were too cumbersome, I would nearly actually go to the extreme of spanning the length in its entirety!
Apologies for the long winded post! Any thoughts gratefully received!
Thanks, Nicky
