Internal Wall Removal Approach (do I need a SE)

[WoOt]

I want to remove 4 internal walls:

1. Load bearing wall on the ground floor
2. Possible load bearing wall on first floor (above wall in point 1)
3. Non-load bearing wall on first floor
4. Tiny little non-load bearing wall

Not quite sure about how to best approach this, so before spending 1200 GBP (only quote I've had this far) on a structural engineer):

• Do I really need a structural engineer for any of this?
• Do I need one for all of it?
• Or can I just get building control involved and they will advice me as to how it has to be done?

Also, for the non-load bearing walls, who "signs off" on them not being load bearing? And at which point should that be done? I am keen to progress, but I guess this needs doing before I knock them out? Just want to make sure we don't have issues in *0 years time when we come to sell.

PS: I aim to use a builder for any load-bearing walls, but to save cost I am hoping to knock out the non-load-bearing walls myself.

 

[mrrusty]

Or can I just get building control involved and they will advice me as to how it has to be done

Yes, you will have to get BC involved, but no they won't help you with design. You need to submit what you are doing and they will approve/sign off. Yes you'll need a structural engineer if taking out gnd and first structural walls. Internal walls that are non-structural may still have relevance to e.g. fire regs. Best do a complete set of before and after plans with calcs where necessary and submit. This is the 100% sure route.

 

[tony1851]

1200 GBP

 

[frutbunn]

Some BCO's will advise on an over engineered solution but this depends on LA and complexity of the work.

 

[mrrusty]

Some BCO's will advise on an over engineered solution but this depends on LA and complexity of the work.

yes - my own local BCO was very helpful and did in fact give quite a lot of helpful advice (particularly on internal insulation I was doing), but it depends on where you are I think....

 

[frutbunn]

yes - my own local BCO was very helpful and did in fact give quite a lot of helpful advice (particularly on internal insulation I was doing), but it depends on where you are I think....

I always give advice on steel sizes etc as has every other BCO I've worked with apart from one authority I worked at briefly in the 80's, but it is an over engineered approach and only on fairly straight forward work ie shortish spans, UDL's etc, anything involving steel posts, longer spans, spliced joints etc then I ask for calcs, doesn't necessarily need to be a structural engineer, I use a retired colleague who was a technician for my private work.

 

[WoOt]

The internal structural wall to be removed is "only" 3.3m long and it's a single block wall.

The engineer I spoke with said he charged a flat fee of 360 GBP ex. VAT per wall, which included calculations for the RSJ. So I asked him about the walls I believe are non-load-bearing and whether he would charge the same amount for those (as they don't need calcs). The answer was: "yes".

I insisted a little and he then said he could do it for 200 cash, but I wouldn't get anything in writing. Which confuses me as how do I then show BCO that the wall wasn't load bearing?

 

[Nakajo]

I would expect an SE to charge in the region of £750 + VAT for this. Find another SE.

 

[frutbunn]

Personally I would just take a look at the non load bearing wall on site just to confirm this is the case. As for the new opening I would just suggest (assuming a standard UDL) 203 x 102 UB, no one round near me stocks anything smaller anyway, I certainly wouldn't require calcs.

 

[tony1851]

There are some online calculators for steel beams.

 

[^woody^]

I need to up my rates