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[nylon]

can anyone help . I am in the middle of buying a house and the last owner knocked the lounge through to the dining room. The building shows signs of significant movement in the form of uneven floors at 1st floor level, this is due to the fact that a supporting wall has been removed at ground floor level without any replacement support being added and a steel lintel is needed

size of room 17'7 x 14'4

is this a big job and roughly how much would something like this cost as i have no idea

 

[Deluks]

In the best Mazher Mahmood tradition, I'd make my excuses and leave!

 

[Chud]

If I were you I'd put the onus on the person selling to fix - I'm surprised your mortgage company has agreed to lend on this - we had a similar job (done properly!) recently and we've got a 3 metre 8"x4" I beam in place - previously (over a double door) was only a 4"x4" timber.

Depending on the amount of settlement already occurred fixing this issue may cause all sorts of other to become apparent - if not done so already I would def. have a full structural survey carried out as it looks like the current owner is a bodge merchant!

 

[Chud]

Also if this is a semi or terraced house this bodge may be affecting the roof support of neighbours - you do not want to be left holding the bill for repairs to them!

I'd look elsewhere!

 

[Shytalkz]

How in the hell could it possibly be affecting the neighbour's roof?!

Admittedly, it should never have been done like that in the first place, but it's a straightforward job to put the correct steel in and make good.

 

[^woody^]

How in the hell could it possibly be affecting the neighbour's roof?!

Easy ... the neighbours live upstairs

 

[Deluks]

How in the hell could it possibly be affecting the neighbour's roof?!

Easy ... the neighbours live upstairs

Smart arse comment of the day

 

[Shytalkz]

There's always one....

 

[Chud]

How in the hell could it possibly be affecting the neighbour's roof?!

Admittedly, it should never have been done like that in the first place, but it's a straightforward job to put the correct steel in and make good.

Well in our house (terrace) the (central) load bearing wall also forms part of the support to the roof as struts run from the purlins to the wall plate on top of the load bearing wall - take out that wall and the roof will start to sag, this will affect the structure of the neighbours roofing as it pulls on the dividing walls etc.

Yes it is a straightforward job to put in a steel but the damage may have already been done and just not noticed by the neighbours...

 

[Shytalkz]

Your scenario is unlikely to happen.

A severely sagging cross wall would be more likely to separate from the party wall rather than pull a 9" party wall in as the bonding there is, generally, nominal.

The severe sagging of a cross wall would, as you say, result in a significant loss of support to any purlin props and end up with the roof sagging. However, the purlin would just rotate on its bearing, rather than tug the wall over. If there was any wall movement, it would tend to only be the brickwork on the purlin side at the bearing itself that moved, not the whole wall; and that's if the purlin wasn't so overstressed that it completely failed and split along the span, or crushed on its leading edge at the position of support.

 

[Chud]

Shytalkz - agreed it is unlikely but I wouldn't say it's impossible - I prefer to err on the side of caution... murphys law and all that!

 

[Shytalkz]

Nothing is impossible (apart from women being sane, all the time), but a reality check is also required.