Rubble Infill Wall and Steel Beam

[dtl]

Hello,

We have a single storey rubble infill stone extension on one side of our rubble infill 2 storey house.

I would like to knock two rooms into one.
This would require the removal of an the ground floor section of an entire supporting wall.

Is it possible to use a structural steel beam arrangement on this type of wall?

Thanks

 

[robgil]

most probably.
However you might want to get someone in to take a look. The last time i took out a supporting wall we had to get steel pillars made up to support the rsj.
The first thing might be to get a structural engineer in to have a look , or a building inspector. you need to know what weight the rsj will be holding above it so as to calculate what size it has to be and how and where it can be supported.
all sorts of things to consider , dead loads , live loads , wind loadings on the roof and walls ,foundations etc etc.

 

[masochists-r-us]

Depending on the age/construction of your single storey extension, an alternative to steel could be green oak. My Husband has added an extension to the original spine beam in our kitchen, keyed new exposed oak joists into it and propped it all up with a vertical oak post. This has allowed us to remove the supporting wall. We were fortunate that our structural engineer wasn't a 'steel man' and encouraged us to go with traditional methods. It looks so much nicer and much more in keeping with a 17th Century building in our view.It also complies with modern building regs, by the way.

 

[chuckey]

You will need two beams to support the two skins with a bit of tat in between them to stop any further rubble infill falling down. I had a 7' wide garage door put in a 24" thick gable wall of a barn. The inner beam was a RSJ and the outer one a catnic so as to support an outer soldier course of blocks, to pretty things up a bit. There were 3 bits of 10mm studding between the beams to stop them drifting apart.
Frank

 

[Penners]

We have a single storey rubble infill stone extension on one side of our rubble infill 2 storey house.

I would like to knock two rooms into one. This would require the removal of an the ground floor section of an entire supporting wall.

Is it possible to use a structural steel beam arrangement on this type of wall?

All things are possible, provided you know what you're doing (sorry if that's stating the bleedin' obvious).

But with a job as critical as this to the integrity of your entire property, I strongly advise you to seek the services of a structural engineer to advise you on the specification of the beam that you intend to install, and the installation method. The consequences of failure are too serious to consider doing otherwise.