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New doorway creation on Saturday (prior to kitchen job on Monday) but we have hit a stumbling block.
Plan A submitted for building warrant was to create a full width opening through a single skin brick wall with a lintel above. Opening width was going to be 1180mm.
After long delays and the suggestion a structural engineer was required we got a report done. They didn't attend and compiled this from architects info (who did visit our house).
Plan B was to open it up to 1180mm then construct a 200mm brick butt, fixed to the external double skin wall at one end thus reducing the opening to 990mm. This is fine with us. Warrant granted eight days ago.
So our builder looked at everything yesterday and only then picked up the revision. He's not a bricklayer and this doorway is Saturdays job!!
Spoke to structural engineer today and he said if single skin wall is in good order and 200mm of it left in situ and fixed to external then that would suffice.
Question is, how is this achieved?
I removed plaster today and the wall seems sound but it isn't stitched into the exterior wall. Photos of exposed brickwork sent to builder.
Builder confident single skin isn't load bearing but we are at the mercy of building warrant/structural engineer for obvious reasons so either have to comply now, delay and comply at a later date or get a site visit from engineer and maybe warrant amendment (and suck up the associated delay)
Happy to speak to structural engineer again tomorrow but we are expecting that this project won't work out as planned currently..
If I understand that right, it's an internal wall you want an opening in, and it meets, at right angles, an external wall, double skin (both brick?) where the opening will be. The approved plan has a brick pillar between the opening and the external wall, and you're hoping to use the existing wall instead, so it would be single skin not double.
Which way do the first floor joists span? Where will the lintel land, on the 200mm of wall or into the external?
I'm a bit puzzled why the Engineer would have specified a pier, and included it in the warrant, but now doesn't think it's essential. Who signed off the design for the warrant? I'm guessing the pier may have been to avoid cutting the external wall to form a bearing for the lintel. 200mm by 200mm would support a lintel, but 200mm by single skin needs tying to stabilise it.
Tying in to the external without demolishing and rebuilding is tricky. If he's not a bricklayer I don't think I'd trust him to do it properly because it means getting mortar in sideways between bricks without voids (but I'm not a bricklayer either).
Yes to the right angle where they meet.
Dining room is the SW of the house and "joists" are running E-W. Adjacent kitchen in SE corner has "joists" running N-S.
It's brick walls, concrete floors, concrete flat roof and later a pitched timber and tile roof on top.
Lintel is to span over the 200mm brick projection a further 150mm into the external wall it seems. The span given if you just use 150mm of support each end had the load calculations exceed the lintel specs. It's a chunky 100*215 lintel as it is..
Dining room is the SW of the house and “joists” are running E-W. Adjacent kitchen in SE corner has “joists” running N-S.
I think you're saying that the concrete beams supporting the floor on one side land on the wall above the lintel, and on the other side they're parallel to it? So there's potentially a significant load on the lintel.
The brick pier is just to shorten the span of the lintel? In that case, and given the load on the lintel, the stub of wall will be carrying a significant vertical load, so needs some lateral support. If the Engineer is happy with the idea, would it be feasible for the builder to leave a prop under the lintel temporarily, and get a bricklayer to double up the 200mm next week? It will be easier to double up than to tie it to the external, and if it's done like that it sounds like it would still meet the warrant.
Yeah I have suggested that to the builder. Given the very last minute nature I wouldn't be surprised if we end up postponing the knock-through.
Certainly an eye opener and hopefully the biggest project in this house!
I would check with the engineer not someone on here who hasn't seen it before you do anything, if you make a mistake its harder to correct plus possible remedials than waiting a couple of days.