opening up mass concrete wall for extention

[skelligs]

Hi Folks,

I want to put a sunroom onto the gable end of my house. Problem is that the gable end wall is made of mass concrete and has a chimney (not used) in the middle.

Has anyone any experience or advice on how best to proceed to knock an opening through a mass concrete wall without commprimising structural integrity.

Now if it was block/brick it would be straight forward (relatively!) however mass concrete poses some interesting technical challenges.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Len

 

[splinter]

Strange why it is a concrete wall in a house ,are you sure it is not concrete panels.
Any way if it what you say it is you could try a sthil saw a diamond blade to cut the doorway out.(Iwould not reccomend using a electrical grinder and blade as these tend to caught and throw you all over the place)

 

[^woody^]

If it's a concrete wall, then does this imply it is some sort of system built property?

Although it may or may not have some reinforcement bars in the concrete, concrete behaves differently to masonry, and you should not 'just cut a hole' in it without first seeking an engineers appraisal.

 

[Thermo]

not only that but alterations to the reinforcement by removing an area of it will affect the integrity of the rest of the reinforcement

 

[noseall]

following on from the guys, exposing the steel reinforcement can encourage concrete 'cancer'. this is when the metal rusts and forces the concrete to blow.

 

[joe-90]

It's prolly not concrete - just rendered block.

Then again maybe it's a converted air raid bunker.

 

[splinter]

Yep I bet there is loads of redundant air raid shelters left over from the second world war in Ireland

 

[Thermo]

not that many built above ground either!

 

[^woody^]

Well it is Ireland!

I'll get my coat

 

[skelligs]

folks,

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it's time for an engineer. The walls are definately concrete panels, no signs of steel reinforcement either!