Structural engineer

Robbiedonegal

Hello all;

We have plans to knock through from our kitchen to our living room. We're also considering 16ft bi-fold doors in the kitchen.

The issue we have is that the second floor of our house is solid concrete. A friend has suggested getting a structural engineer to make sure this is possible. Has anyone done anything similar? Is an engineer required? If so, what sort of cost are we talking about?

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

Robbie.

Gumbo

Knocking the internal wall may require steel to carry the loads of the costing first floor joists.

Bi fold doors to the rear will require steel above them to carry the remainder of the house.

Yes, engineer required.
Cost : depending on location, €750 - €1000 just to design these two items and issues a structural certificate.

Calahonda52

As what kc says: given the large dead load from what I presume are hollow core slabs, the beam will be fairly chunky and I would expect the engineer to use still columns at the end rather than just bear on the blockwork so allow for the opes being wider to accommodate the columns.

A 16 foot beam loaded with a hollow core floor over a door will have to have minimal deflection so it will be a deeper beam than normal: is there a false ceiling to hide it.
Yes, interesting engineering ahead

Robbiedonegal

kceire wrote: »

Knocking the internal wall may require steel to carry the loads of the costing first floor joists.

Bi fold doors to the rear will require steel above them to carry the remainder of the house.

Yes, engineer required.
Cost : depending on location, €750 - €1000 just to design these two items and issues a structural certificate.

Many thanks kceire!

Robbiedonegal

Many thanks for the advice folks. Engineer it is!

doolally

Robbiedonegal wrote: »

Many thanks for the advice folks. Engineer it is!

Just a suggestion , as you will be needing steel for the job sourced from your local friendly steel fabricators. Ask them for suggesting for engineers as they have to have one sign off on there work with new c.e. rules.
So the chances of ending up with what you need and not overkill on steel $$$

Gumbo

doolally wrote: »

Just a suggestion , as you will be needing steel for the job sourced from your local friendly steel fabricators. Ask them for suggesting for engineers as they have to have one sign off on there work with new c.e. rules.
So the chances of ending up with what you need and not overkill on steel $$$

Keep your engineer independent of any contractor or supplier to the site in my opinion.

doolally

kceire wrote: »

Keep your engineer independent of any contractor or supplier to the site in my opinion.

Where you buy the stuff is your call not that of an engineer you hire. If you ask for a recommendation for a trade person or professional from an established business does not mean you have to hire that business to do anything for you