Removing a supporting wall...

Bosch

Hi folks,
We're looking at breaking two (downstairs) rooms into one in our house... however, unfortunately the wall separating the two rooms is a supporting wall, and also to complicate matters, it has a chimney stack through it!

Just wondering if anyone has had to get a supporting wall removed and if so, what is involved from a building perspective? How long it might take a builder? Also interested to hear an approximate cost!

Any info would be great!

Cheers,
Bosch (north Wicklow area)

patrido

i would get an engineer to look at your specific requirement and to do a design for it, and only hire a builder with experience in such a job. it is likely to involve fitting a steel rsj to replace the wall. it's not a major job engineering wise, but it needs to be done very carefully.

Borzoi

Are you hoping to remove the entire wall and the chimney stack, that's a major deal, the chimney stack is often a central part of the structural support of the house. You'll definitely need a structural enginneer.

If you just want to remove part of the wall, for doubles doors etc, it would be a smaller job, possibly a builder would be able to determine the RSj (Steel beam) size

Bosch

Thanks for the replies folks... yep, I'm looking to remove the entire wall (including the chimney stack)...

I figured the fitting of an rSJ might be needed alright since it's a supporting wall (used to be the outer wall of the house before the two-storey extension was built onto the house).

Anyone able to recommend a structural engineer who might assess the work involved, preferably in the south dublin / north Wicklow area?

Cheers!
B.

Lex Luthor

I imagine accros (spell check) would be just put in to support above while the wall is being removed and rsj put in. I seen Tommy Walsh do it once in a real old house and took him about the bones of a week, due to mainly the size of the rsj needed to get it in

Victor

Whats happens the chimney above this point. Just to do the demolition and steel, I think you can start looking at €5,000+ before you redecorate.

rooferPete

Hi,

I expect the Engineer will want the chimney taken down from the top, either that or two RSJ's will be needed with cross supports.

The amount of work and cost will depend a lot on the original structure.

.

FrankGrimes

We'll be doing pretty much the exact same thing to our house, except we will be knocking the entire chimney stack from top down (just the chimney on the second floor, external wall will be left in place upstairs as its only a single storey extension).

To the best of my knowledge a chimney stack should never be part of the structural support of a house - it should only ever support its own weight, though it may take on some of the weight through time.

I had an engineer look at it a few months back when he was in for another job and he said there was no problem taking it down, just needed a proper RSJ, though he disappeared soon after so I'm looking for recommendations of a strucutral engineer in Dublin who might do this.