Need to remove internal Wall. Advice needed.

[cameron99999]

Hi,

I am needing to remove an internal wall which currently separates my kitchen and my hall. The Wall is not very thick around 4 – 5inches. Upstairs floor joists run in the same direction as the wall which I want to remove. The house is a non traditional build with a steel frame per my housing deeds. I am fairly sure it would be ok to remove but this would only leave one other internal wall downstairs.

What other checks should I make?

Do I need a building warrant or planning permission? Can I remove it without these?

Should I get a builder it to say yes or no? if he says its ok would this be enough if in writing in case I wanted to sell the house in future?

Any help advise would be greatly appreciated.

Regards
Cameron

 

[tony1851]

A BISF house, presumably?

Althought the wall may not appear to be supporting floor joists, it may still be serving a structural function, such as lateral stiffening.
Post-War non-traditional housing has specific characteristics, and is not as flexible as traditional build.

Why not speak with your local building control people - they may have experience of these particular houses.

 

[ed110220]

Late reply, but if this is a BISF house then the wall between the kitchen and hall (and between the living room and dining room) has an RSJ in the top of it just below ceiling level that supports the front-to-back steel floor beams upstairs. There is also a vertical steel stanchion in the corner between the hall/kitchen/living room and two more between the living room and dining room.

Apart from these, there are no structural elements in the internal walls of a BISF house (none at all upstairs), which makes it a lot easier to work with than a traditional house.

Here's a photo courtesy of Grangey of bisfhouse.com illustrating them once the rest of the wall has been removed:-

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