I am considering knocking through the wall between my kitchen and utility room in order to make a bigger kitchen, with a universal beam/RSJ to support the opening.
To make things a little unusual, the kitchen is part of the original house built in 1900 and the utility room is part of an extension added in the 1930's. So the wall I want to knock through was originally an external wall. I have put a picture below showing the extension ('dairy') and the kitchen ('scullery') - the wall I want to knock through is between the 'scullery' and the 'lobby'.
My slight concern is with the two adjacent doorways in the lobby. As can be seen in the photo below, there are two large Bath Stone lintels which coincide with each other (the red lines are just for illustration, I don't actually know how they join). This means one lintel sits on top of the other, and one (or both) must have had a section cut out to allow them to join. I assume cutting into lintels is not something that would normally be suggested. I have shown on the photo where I would want to put the new beam.
So my question is - would there be any issues with installing the beam as shown, particularly in relation to how the two lintels are arranged? As the beam will have to rest on the left hand lintel. Or any recommendations to change the lintels for something else? I'm guessing that depending on how the lintels have been cut, I might have no choice but to change the lintel anyway.
Appreciate any thoughts!
To make things a little unusual, the kitchen is part of the original house built in 1900 and the utility room is part of an extension added in the 1930's. So the wall I want to knock through was originally an external wall. I have put a picture below showing the extension ('dairy') and the kitchen ('scullery') - the wall I want to knock through is between the 'scullery' and the 'lobby'.
My slight concern is with the two adjacent doorways in the lobby. As can be seen in the photo below, there are two large Bath Stone lintels which coincide with each other (the red lines are just for illustration, I don't actually know how they join). This means one lintel sits on top of the other, and one (or both) must have had a section cut out to allow them to join. I assume cutting into lintels is not something that would normally be suggested. I have shown on the photo where I would want to put the new beam.
So my question is - would there be any issues with installing the beam as shown, particularly in relation to how the two lintels are arranged? As the beam will have to rest on the left hand lintel. Or any recommendations to change the lintels for something else? I'm guessing that depending on how the lintels have been cut, I might have no choice but to change the lintel anyway.
Appreciate any thoughts!
