Wall removal

[Ldsinclair]

Please see sketch attached. I love in a semi detached 1960's brick built house. Am looking to make the kitchen and dining room as one room. The steel beam is load bearing but the wall that is between the kitchen and dining room has a concrete lintel about a metre long and sits under the steel beam the question is this concrete lintel spreading the weight on the steel beam or was it just and old door opening? Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

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• Ldsinclair
• 23 May 2015
• 1

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I would recommend that you ask a structural engineer to visit and assess it.

 

[^woody^]

Structural engineers don't end to know much about means of escape and fire risks.

 

[Blagard]

Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks

PrenticeBoyofDerry is right although a decent builder should be able to advise you.

If the steel beam only spans the living room/dining room space, then the end of the concrete lintel could well be directly under the bearing area of the steel beam. In any event I suspect you will be removing that living room/kitchen part of the wall and the beam may not be suitable for the increased span even if it currently extends that far.

The dining room/kitchen wall could also be load bearing (even if no walls directly above) as floor joists could be bearing there with rooms above divided by offset lightweight partitions.

The bottom line is get someone in to look at the complete picture.