Internal wall

[DaG56]

HI all.
I'm after help & info about a wall I am thinking of removing in my house.
The wall is between the lounge & the hall & I will be removing 8ft of it.
It is block built & does not extend upstairs, it's a single storey wall.
My problem is it has some of the upstairs floor joists resting on it, infact the joists are in 2 pieces & overlapped, so use the wall as a support.
How do I work out what type / size lintel I will need, or will I need to inform my local planning dept & they will tell me?
Thanks for any help.

 

[Ossy]

You'll have to inform the local council building control office anyway, but they won't just tell you what size you need. They will however advise you if they think your proposals are not up to scratch.

Either got an experienced builder to put forward a proposal for the size beam they'd use, then run that past building control, or call a local engineer, who'll size the beam up for you and supply the calculations.

 

[DaG56]

Ok, thanks Ossy.
I've had a dig around this site & found that i need to inform the bco if the opening is over 1800mm.
Birtley lintels have calculations for their lintels on their site so using their "lintel selector" I will choose one & put that to the bco & see what they say.
The only thing I'm not sure about is, whether my use would need a standard, heavy or extra-heavy lintel. These were the choices for internal load bearing walls, on the Birtley site.

 

[Ossy]

They don't seem to offer a definition of their different loading types, but as it's just a floor above, assuming that you've not got any massively long rooms above, I would think that this would relate to standard. Email them or give them a call - if they think you'll buy off them I'm sure they'll be more than helpful.

If you want to do some of your own calculations to work out the load to compare it to max safe load, the british standard for domestic floor load is 1.5kN/sq metre (of floor area above supported), and then add on an allowance for the weight of the floor (you could work this out, but generally 0.5kN/sqm is considered about right). Make sure you've got a bit spare for any blockwork above it or anything unexpected and you'll be fairly close.

Bear in mind though, that as you're doing your own calculations, you'll only have yourself to blame if it goes wrong in the future. Even if BCO say yes, if it goes wrong, you can't blame them...

 

[DaG56]

Will I have to give drawings of the house plan to the bco, or will they have access to a plan of the house which will be on record with the local council?
Btw, thanks for those load calculations & help. it's appreciated.

 

[Ossy]

They won't have anything on record - and even if they did, they probably wouldn't be able to find it!

They'll want to come and see the property at some point, quite probably once the lintel's in place but not covered up. I would have thought a scale sketch with the details of the lintel would be adequate. BCO are pretty approachable though. Give them a ring, explain what you are doing and ask them what they want to see.

 

[DaG56]

Thanks, I'll do what you say & get in touch with my local bco.

I was told that the local authority have plans for every house in their area which is why I thought they would have access to the house plan.
I'm pretty ignorant on these matters, your info has been very helpful, thanks again.