Cost of removal column from living room

akesha

Hi all,

My partner and I are in the proccess of buying a house. The living room has a wall of around 6m but in the middle there is a column for the fireplace, but this column doesn't appear in the first floor, so we are sure that we can remove it and have the whole wall at the same level.

Who can do this job in Ireland? A builder? And how much could it cost?

We would also need to put a false ceiling because we are planning to put a projector and a big screen. Can a builder do all this job? We are from Spain and we are not sure about which kind of worker we need to be in contact to do all this thing.

Thanks!

salmocab

akesha wrote: »

Hi all,

My partner and I are in the proccess of buying a house. The living room has a wall of around 6m but in the middle there is a column for the fireplace, but this column doesn't appear in the first floor, so we are sure that we can remove it and have the whole wall at the same level.

Who can do this job in Ireland? A builder? And how much could it cost?

We would also need to put a false ceiling because we are planning to put a projector and a big screen. Can a builder do all this job? We are from Spain and we are not sure about which kind of worker we need to be in contact to do all this thing.

Thanks!

A builder can do the work however for the removal of the column you will need an engineer or architect as it is probably holding up the upstairs of the house, just because it doesn't appear upstairs doesn't mean its doing nothing.

mickdw

salmocab wrote: »

A builder can do the work however for the removal of the column you will need an engineer or architect as it is probably holding up the upstairs of the house, just because it doesn't appear upstairs doesn't mean its doing nothing.

An Engineer is what you need.
They will tell you what is involved in removing the column and if there will be other works required to support the structure.
He /She can put together a plan of works for builder to follow.

akesha

salmocab wrote: »

A builder can do the work however for the removal of the column you will need an engineer or architect as it is probably holding up the upstairs of the house, just because it doesn't appear upstairs doesn't mean its doing nothing.

No, the stairs are in the opposite side of the house. If I draw a line in the first floor, it appears to be the master bedroom, without that column.

I was wondering if the surveyor that I am going to hire for the evaluation can tell me if I can remove that wall or not. If not, then I will have to contact an engineer/architect as you say.

Gumbo

akesha wrote: »

No, the stairs are in the opposite side of the house. If I draw a line in the first floor, it appears to be the master bedroom, without that column.

I was wondering if the surveyor that I am going to hire for the evaluation can tell me if I can remove that wall or not. If not, then I will have to contact an engineer/architect as you say.

It has to be holding something.
The surveyor cannot open up works and only an engineer will guide you based on what's found after removing the finishes such as plaster etc and you cannot do that until the home is yours.

akesha

kceire wrote: »

It has to be holding something.
The surveyor cannot open up works and only an engineer will guide you based on what's found after removing the finishes such as plaster etc and you cannot do that until the home is yours.

I think it is only decorative (the depth of the column could be around 15 cm). There is no chimney in the roof, so I think the purpose it is only to have a fireplace and that the smoke will go though a pipe to somewhere out the house.

But I will check with an engineer the moment the house is mine.

Gumbo

akesha wrote: »

I think it is only decorative (the depth of the column could be around 15 cm). There is no chimney in the roof, so I think the purpose it is only to have a fireplace and that the smoke will go though a pipe to somewhere out the house.

But I will check with an engineer the moment the house is mine.

The smoke pipe (chimney flue) needs to leave the house above the waves level at the roof. Some investigation required.

Hopefully it's decorative for cost. Not a major job to get done, just a bit messy and if your doing the house up anyway it won't make much difference. I'd budget €1000 for a big standard job and that's before you allow for new finishes etc

The cost could be cheaper or more, but just to give you an idea.

Drift

Not going to offer any structural advice here because you need to employ an engineer for that but it sounds to me like you are describing a chimney stack?

This is a very different thing to a column although in some circumstances can provide similar contributions.