Advice on box iron beam size for supporting wall

T

TheRebelRam

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I want to remove a supporting wall in my house to make an opening from the kitchen to the dining room. The opening will be 7' 2" wide.
The support is for where the joists in the floor of the upstairs are joint between each side wall of the house, 12' in one direction and 11' in the other direction, which support the second floor. (two storey house)
The roof joists run in the opposite direction so I do not think they need to be supported.
It is a detached standard timber frame house built about 4 years ago.
Presently the wall is supported by 3.5" by 1.5" beams supported which are 14" apart.
My question is if using box iron what size would I need to replace for the 7'2" gap. I can get 6" x 3", 7" x 3.5" or 8" x 4"
Is the 6" x 3" suffice or the 8" x 4"?
 
I really would get an engineer in. Might cost a bit of money but probably still cheaper than the house (or parts thereof) collapsing.
 
TheRebelRam said:
I want to remove a supporting wall in my house to make an opening from the kitchen to the dining room. The opening will be 7' 2" wide.
The support is for where the joists in the floor of the upstairs are joint between each side wall of the house, 12' in one direction and 11' in the other direction, which support the second floor. (two storey house)
Click to expand...

So you are looking to remove a ground floor timber stud wall which supports the 1st floor level? Is this correct? Does this ground floor wall also support the 1st floor wall over?

TheRebelRam said:
The roof joists run in the opposite direction so I do not think they need to be supported.
Click to expand...

Hold this for now. An Engineer will be required to inspect it.


TheRebelRam said:
It is a detached standard timber frame house built about 4 years ago.
Click to expand...
So, I have assumed that all walls are of timber stud, is this correct?


TheRebelRam said:
Presently the wall is supported by 3.5" by 1.5" beams supported which are 14" apart.
Click to expand...
I do not understand what is happening here. Could you explain further.


TheRebelRam said:
My question is if using box iron what size would I need to replace for the 7'2" gap. I can get 6" x 3", 7" x 3.5" or 8" x 4"
Is the 6" x 3" suffice or the 8" x 4"?
Click to expand...
Hold this thought for now. You will require an engineer to inspect and asses what you are proposing to do, but if you can clear some of the other points, on here, we could comment further.
 
AAM is not competent to offer detailed engineering advice remotely.
Your assessment of how a timber framed house distributes load may not be correct.

ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
 
I think if I ask the question in another way it may help.
Firstly I am looking for someone who can give me details on how to complete the calculations on what the current structure I want to remove can hold.

Then how to complete calculations on different sized metal joists. Once I find these out I can replace like with like and there will not be a need to calculate other loads on the house.

I am simply asking here how to complete the calculations which I will then be calculating myself.

Hope this helps with any confusion.

Details of the structure I want to remove are;
On the floor is a length of 3.5" x 1.5" on flat
On the ceiling there are two lengths of 3.5" x 1.5" on flat
Supporting these are uprights, 3.5" x 1.5" x 7' 9" high, spaced approx 14" apart.
Finally there one cross piece between each upright at about 4'.

Question 1, Is it possible to calculate the max load this structure is capable of holding?

Question 2, If I can get an answer to question 1 then, If I wanted to support a weight of 'x' how would I calculate steel dimensions to support this?
 
Perhaps if I answer your question more directly it may clear this up. :)
You should appoint a competent and insured chartered engineer to comment.
This is not just about a beam - its about the entire structure and the foundations too.
If you carry out work to a timber frame house without competent advice you could do structural damage.


ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
 
Point taken eventually :)
Engineer booked for €300, I'm still gonna get him to show me how to do the calculations though :)
 
Well done and by all means learn all you can from the experience, TheRebelRam!

Its important to assess how side loadings are transferred and how to transfer more concentrated loads to the ground.

Make sure he's covered by PI and will sign off on the design, otherwise questions may be raised on sell on that you could find difficulty in answering.

All the work done by a contractor should be certified as well, otherwise how will a purchaser know what he's getting?

:)

ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
 
onq said:
Well done and by all means learn all you can from the experience, TheRebelRam!

Its important to assess how side loadings are transferred and how to transfer more concentrated loads to the ground.

Make sure he's covered by PI and will sign off on the design, otherwise questions may be raised on sell on that you could find difficulty in answering.

All the work done by a contractor should be certified as well, otherwise how will a purchaser know what he's getting?

:)

ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.
Click to expand...

Thanks, all in hand, reputable company sourced on here with good reviews.
 
Just had engineer in. I was hoping to place a steel stud in to reduce the size but I was shown methods of constructing wooden beams bolted together with ply which is smaller than the steel structure that I had planned.
Also it is much more safer with the wooden structure in the event of fire to prevent house collapse.
Very interesting and well worth getting the advise.
Eating humble pie :)
 
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