Hi, I have a 60's built chalet in which I am doing some alterations. I intended putting a timber studwall in, beneath a RSJ and move the corner entrance lounge door over by 400mm (away from the RSJ). Having chipped the plaster away to reveal the existing lintel I have found the RSJ spanning an 11ft room is sitting on just 3" of a 4" wide brick and two courses below that is the lintel above the door. Bricks below that have also failed. My intention is to lengthen the lintel to allow moving the door over (Filling the gap with Studwork) but I am concerned because the RSJ has a wall above spanning the room above and also has all of the upstairs floor joists (2 rooms) slotted into it.| I intended cutting an old lintel (removed from elsewhere in the house) into two 200mm long padstones and place one under the new longer lintel and one beneath the RSJ and above the new lintel. Does that sound correct? How many pairs of acrows stood on scaffold boards x4 should I support that end of the RSJ to be safe. Is there a relatively simple calculation for that? An SE in these parts charges £250 to have a look and another £200 to come up with specs and takes around 4 weeks, and I intend moving in this year
Don’t cut corners when it comes to SE (literally) Pay the £450 - which is competitive IME, not to mention a small price to pay for peace of mind , and wait until the Calcs come back …
You will not get BRA without calcs and you say you are looking to move soon so absence will screw a sale up big time unless the purchaser's solicitor is incompetant. You are talking about lengthening a lintel if I read you correctly? That's a massive no-no without professional input. If you're going to move, why bother?
Don’t forget, when you come to sell it the lawyers on the other side will ask you if you have done any structural alteration and if so will want the LBC completion documentation. LBC will want the SE’s calculations first before checking its compliance.
Definitely pay the money for the SE. £450 is very reasonable. If you don't have the correct approval then, best case, you will have trouble if you do come to sell the house at a later date or, worst case, something could fail structurally resulting in damage or injury. You are paying for their knowledge and expertise and once you have your calcs and methodology the options for the job will be much clearer and you can then decide if it is within your capabilities or worth getting someone in to do it. They will normally design the temporary propping requirements as well, so you will know how to position your Acrows, needles etc while the work is going ahead. I am currently in a situation where work was inadvertently done without the appropriate SE approval and, trust me, it is a massive PITA. Bill is currently just shy of £1000 for calcs, specs and retrospective approval.