Knocking through between kitchen and dining room - supporting wall

[cheesesconesaremyfavourite]

Hi has anyone knocked through between a kitchen and dining room where the wall was a very thick supporting wall (not a stud wall) such as you'd find in old houses (a foot thick approx). If so can you give me a very approximate idea of the cost.

[TokenGinger]

We've not done it yet but we've been told it'll cost approx £1k to do it. I'm in Manchester.

[bravotango]

Depending on where you are in the country and how big the steel beam needed, probably 2-3k (including structural engineer fees and building control signoff)? Ours was a 6ft steel inserted between front and back room and around 2k (including plastering). We're in the NW.

[gonewiththerain]

A beam calculation cost me £300, the beam (steel) £1000 and I had to pay for building control anyway for other works. Can’t remember the labour cost but wasn’t too bad
I’m in the north

[cheesesconesaremyfavourite]

Thanks TokenGinger - that was less than I was expecting. We're in the south so it would probably cost more here but even so that's not nearly as bad as I thought.

[cheesesconesaremyfavourite]

Thanks bravotango and gonewiththerain - sounds like it might be more affordable than I thought.

[Africa2go]

Think we paid just less than £5k as it was a really thick wall with a fire place in the dining room. We're NW too.

[cheesesconesaremyfavourite]

thanks Africa2go - ours is really thick and has kitchen units on one side so I'm thinking the cost of ours might be around that. Can I ask if everyone is glad they did it and was it worth the mess, hassle and expense?

[Thecazelets]

I'm interested in this too! Am assuming there are lots of additional associated costs like flooring and redecoration that need to be taken into account.

[Climbingallthetrees]

I’ve done two. One was uncomplicated, simple steel. £1500. One was a fire place wall which needed several steels and a bit of work to the foundations. £3000. Both totally worth it. Very very messy though.

[bravotango]

We had original floorboards in both rooms, so there was a hole when the wall was removed - our builder just sourced a reclaimed board to fill the gap. You can lift the boards in one room and sort of shift them along so they meet the other room and fill the gaps around the edge of the room so it's less noticeable, but we couldn't be bothered with that. So so so worth it - it's seriously like living in a different house. So much better.

[Africa2go]

Yes, definitely worth it. Should have said as a pp says that our ceiling heights and floor levels were different in each room so that was a bit of extra work, then replaced all the flooring, redecorated, new kitchen etc. You can get carried away.

I think open plan kitchen diners are much better for family life than separate kitchen and dining rooms. We could just about squeeze us all round a table in the kitchen previously (family of 5) but were under each other's feet and dining room wasnt used much at all.

[cheesesconesaremyfavourite]

Thanks everyone. Yes DH is concerned about additional costs like flooring, decorating, new kitchen units etc as he knows I can get carried away! Good to hear that those of you who've had it done consider it well worth the hassle and cost as I do feel it would change the way we use the house completely.

[MinniesAndMickeysNeedCounting]

We paid around £3000 in 2018 to remove a wall with a large chimney breast, that was for 2 steels and needles across, the removal of the wall itself isn't that expensive but everything else, kitchen, flooring, plastering etc soon mounts up, we're hoping to do similar again in our new house soon

[cheesesconesaremyfavourite]

Thanks @MinniesAndMickeysNeedCounting

[iusedtohavechickens]

We are in the south and have done ours. Quotes were 3-4K. We also had to pay surveyor 250 for the numbers for the beam. We now need to redecorate both rooms but had already planned on doing so x