Options for Opening Up a Load-bearing External Wall

Andycap8

Hi guys.

So, we have a 3 story old house with a semi-sunken basement level. Ground level in the front basement room is probably at the same level as the ground level of the footpath to the front of the house (there's a rasied front garden area in between).

The problem is, the land slopes upward toward the rear so that at the rear of the house, ground level is approx a third of the way up the rear basement wall (i.e. when you look out the rear door, garden ground level is at your stomach). Furthermore, out the door is not open the width of the room - there is only a steps up to the rear garden level the width of the door so on either side of the steps the garden level is up to your stomach and hits the back wall of the house at this level.

The rear door is glass but it is quite narrow and there are no other windows in the room so it's pretty dark. We ideally want to expand the door but if that's not feasible we'd like to add small windows on either side. We have photos from when the house was redone in the early 2000's and it seems the lintel is just wide enough to span the width of the existing door.

When we mentioned it to an engineer (friend of the in-laws) who had looked at the house for us, he said opening it up wasn't possible - it's a Victorian house so there's probably no footings (i've also heard sometimes there can be no foundations) and it would cost a fortune and would be a waste of time and sure why would you want to do that etc. Lets just say, he didn't exactly have a can-do attitude.

Obviously it was possible to install an Ope in the rear wall wide enough for the current door but this done as part of a very big job. I'm wondering a couple of things:

1. if you can open it up the width of the current door, surely you could open it up a little wider. The old photos suggest the rear wall is block work - did they have blocks back in the 1830's? Does anyone have experience installing a wide door in an old house where the bottom floor is slightly submerged?
2. If the foundations are really at their limits now, would it be possible to install small windows either side of the existing door without changing the foundations - they don't have to open, they just have to let in some light.
3. Is there such a thing as a structural patio door? i.e. a door so strong/well designed that the pressure from the upper levels is transferred onto the door frame and around the frame so that pressure is dispersed out the base of the door frame - so as not to place all the pressure on the sides of the doors.

One of the problems we have with "underpinning" (I presume) is the fact the existing basement has underfloor heating so we don't want to risk clipping one of those pipes. Essentially, does anyone have any experience with this, is there a €5000 solution or are we looking at a €20,000 solution with the risk of having to replace all our underfloor piping if someones sledge hammer slips?

Appreciate any help - we'll get an engineer to look at it in a number of months, but I'm just wondering if anyone thinks I'm wasting my time.

BryanF

Mod note: we can’t offer structural advice

*Everything is solveable at a cost & subject to structural design

1. *
2. *
3. No

Assume the higher figure.

tradesman

As said by Bryanf. Evrrything is doable at a price. Get a structural engineer first. If you want to open up fully he / she will probably come up with a structural steel goal post scenario with the posts sitting on a concrete foundation. Will be costly but can be done.You decide if it is worth it

Lumen

Concrete blocks were not made commercially until the 20th century, so surely your wall is random rubble and if supporting two stories and a roof above it is probably several feet thick.

The challenge is that you can't just knock a series of small holes in this kind of wall to put temporary support in before knocking a large hole for a set of lintels, because there is no neat line of blocks going through the wall to remove. You have no idea how close the wall is to its structural limits.

Find a company that specialises in structural work on houses of this age.

Andycap8

Thanks guys.

Get a different engineer seems to the answer.