wall is supporting... what next

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positivenote

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okay so heres the porblem.... we want to knock down a wall that is adjoining our kitchen and our dinning room, but we have been told by a builder friend that it is a suporting wall. If anyone has an approximate idea of what the cost of knocking a wall like this down will cost i would be greatly appreciative. Im presuming its a job for two or three days??
any help would be really great
thanks
 
Re: wall is suporting... what next

We've just gone through this recently. You'll certainly need a horizontal supporting beam. Depending on the design of the remaining walls at either end, you may need 1 or 2 vertical supporting beams to support the horizontal supporting beam. You should get some input from an architect or a structural engineer to be sure. Decide whether you are happy to have the beam 'showing' at the ceiling, or do you want to pay an extra few thousand to have it 'hidden' in the ceiling space. Find out if there are any pipes running through the internal wall (any radiators fitted?) which will have to be diverted.

I can't give a specific cost for this, as it was part of a larger job we were getting done, so I don't have a breakdown of costs.

I'd recommend a reputable, established builder, though you can expect to pay a premium of 20%-30% for this. I'm amazed to see neighbours carrying out major structural work like this via a 'man with van' type builder. You should get a completion letter from the building confirming that all building regs have been met.
 
Re: wall is suporting... what next

If you have any worries at all go to a structural engineer and ask him to look at it and specify a beam, these things can appear simple (most are) but he'll have professional indemnity insurance to cover his specification of the beam should there be any problems....fee should be small and should only take him 5 mins to specify.
 
Re: wall is suporting... what next

just been talking to a builder who had a look at the wall. he confirmed that it is a 2/3 day job and we will need to insert a suporting beem, this job will also incorporate using RSJ's (i think thats what they are called). He has said that he will get back to us with a quote on sat. but if anyone has any idea what this should approximately be it would be a great help. The wall is adoining a kitchen and a dinning room and is a length of approx 13ft..
if anyone can recomend any builders that would be able to give us a free quote on the job also it would be great. We are situated out in pheasants run in clonee
Thanks
 
Hi Positivenote,

Just digging this thread up as we are in the process of buying a home in Pheasants Run, and my long term plan is to also knock the wall between the dining room / kitchen - did you end up going through with this?
Was it a big job with the issue of the supporting wall / expensive?
Are you happy with the results?

Thanks
 
hi there,
yeah we went through with it and it was the best decision we made. It totally brightens up and opens up the kitchen and with the adjoining doors leading into the front room open you basiv=cally have an open plan downstairs which is great for party's. It did need the insertion of an RSJ but its not a problem. Job took about two\three days to complete and didnt cost us that much in the end as we had a builder friend do the work for us... One thing is that the radiator in the kitchen ahs tro be taken out and we had a new one put on the far wall of the old 'dining' area.

Hope this helps
 
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