Knocking down a supporting wall

[Monkey boy]

. The wall is supporting the joists above,

Is that all? As before, speak to a trusted builder first. If joists are all it's supporting you may not need a structural engineer, building regs and all that other costly stuff. I wouldn't bother with planning permission either - just another cost & who's going to know?

 

Probably get loads of replies now about consequences when selling the house (no building regs PP etc.) These may be valid, I don't know I don't own a house - but unless the wall you're removing is specifically mentioned in deeds, how is anyone going to know? I've yet to see a surveyor put anything below their neck into a loft.

 

A decent builder who knows what he's doing will tell you if you need an engineer etc. etc.

[Wann]

"A decent builder" wtf is that?

 

The guys down the road from us (Douglas) couldn't decide which builder to use so they chose the guy (south, as it happens, but not right down there) with a beard because a guy with a beard they considered more trustworthy (I'm being serious here).

 

Part way through the job, the builder went 'bust' owing fortunes and leaving people in the shit all over the place. He started up again soon after and has done the same again. And probably again.

 

Under the circumstances, I would approach an architect first and take it from there.

[woolley]

I know it's not helpful but I'd go for keeping the two rooms every time rather than knocking through into one. Then you can be social in one room if you want to or anti-social doing different things in separate rooms. I could never understand the knocking through fetish. Good luck though. Hope it finishes up still standing in one piece.

[Cliff Hazard]

Thanks for all of the advice, very useful. This isn't a job I'll be doing myself (although I did help my dad do it when I was a teen). I'll speak to the builder and take it from there.

 

As for keeping it as 2 rooms - it's to make the kitchen bigger and more sociable too I suppose but we do love a good kitchen party and I've got no where else to put my speakers. I've got another room to be unsociable in, and there's also my fetish dungeon which is fairly secluded and has rather a nice ambiance.

[x-in-man]

..yeah, seen the webcam.

[Wann]

I recently wanted to knock down a wall between the kitchen and the living room. The main reason was to bring light in from the front room in the morning and from the kitchen in the afternoon - so light all day. Then I thought about loss of wall space (for cupboards, settee etc) in both rooms. And we'd be losing a room, a space. Everyone I asked gave a different opinion.

 

I turned to the collective opinion of mumsnet. Yep, mumsnet. There are plenty of threads on the matter and well worth a glance through, even though there is still a huge division of opinion and ideas.

 

But some good technical advice too.

 

Mumsnet - knocking down walls

[woody2]

even though there is still a huge division of opinion and ideas.

that's unusual for the bunny boiler net

[Monkey boy]

couldn't decide which builder to use so they chose the guy with a beard because a guy with a beard they considered more trustworthy

That's ridiculous, everyone knows the way to choose a trustworthy builder is to go for one that smokes a pipe, choosing one with a beard is just too hit & miss.

[TomTucker]

Monkey Boy speaks the truth, find a decent builder to the job. the stress calc and all that is nonsense, the RSJ is 'T shirt sized' anyway

 

Friends have had good results with OMS and CCS construction.

 

dont forget about electric work and plumbing you may want to do at the same time, moving radiators, sockets around, wall mounting tellys all modern living stuff you should do at the same time as the house is a tip most of which you can do yourself.

[ballaughbiker]

 

 

the stress calc and all that is nonsense

ffs....!

 

Ask your insurance company if they agree.

[pongo]

 

couldn't decide which builder to use so they chose the guy with a beard because a guy with a beard they considered more trustworthy

That's ridiculous, everyone knows the way to choose a trustworthy builder is to go for one that smokes a pipe, choosing one with a beard is just too hit & miss.

 

That might have been true once, I don't know. These days it's the dog.

 

Ditto sweeps and plumbers FWIW.

[Merkin]

If you fuck this up you will get cracking in the walls of your house, water ingress and large remediation costs. Speak to an engineer.

[Monkey boy]

My suggestion was to speak to a reputable builder first. A professional builder will tell you if you need to bring in an engineer - given that all the wall is supporting is ceiling joists there's a good chance you may not.

 

Basically what you want to do is knock a wall down without the roof falling in. The first and most important person you're going to need is a builder. It is up to you whether you also want to employ a structural engineer, building inspector, planning officer, insurance company etc. etc. as have been variously recommended on this thread. If you do it will still be the builder that will be knocking the wall down & making sure that the roof doesn't fall in.

 

All of the above charge considerably more per hour than a builder. Employ a good builder and decide between you how many suit clad parasites are necessary.

[Cliff Hazard]

Yes, the guy I've primarily got in mind is a very reputable builder and does this kind of thing all of the time. Renovations are mainly his thing and he's also a damp and timber specialist.

 

I'll get him in, get a quote and ask him what's the what on building regs, engineers etc.

 

Actually I bumped into an old friend today who I haven't seen for a while. He's a structural engineer who was working for the govt. but has now gone out on his own.

 

I've invited him round for a roast on Sunday

[ballaughbiker]

Good idea re the structural engineer. I took out a single brick wall in a victorian building that looked very insignificant. In fact we only had to kick it down it was so weak. However on closer inspection it was supporting the wall upstairs which was the mid span support for the roof purlins.

 

Despite acknowledging that much of building is common sense, I got in a structural engineer and he found out the outer walls were bowed due to the lack of support given by this wall. Whilst he did the calcs and came up with a RSJ that pretty much size matched our layman's guess, he suggested it rest on brick piers sitting on a pad of concrete either end to stop the walls bowing.

 

Some jobs don't need a suit and his big bill and some do. Question is how much do you trust yourself or the builder someone recommended because he was nice (presented his bill with a chat and a smile) and tidied up after himself? Nobody cares until something goes wrong and then all hell can beak loose if its serious enough.

 

Just sayin'.