Knocking down wall between kitchen and dining room?

[Marrow]

We want to knock down the wall to create a kitchen diner. We plan to keep the existing kitchen but put in a central island. We've never had any building work done before and I'm not sure where to start.

Do we need to get in a builder to quote and will he then deal with the electrics, plumbing, flooring etc? Do we need an architect, structural engineer?

Would also love to hear from anyone that has done this and if you were happy with it or would do anything differently. It should give us a room approx 23.5ft x 10.10ft and hopefully more useable space. At the moment the dining room is just a dumping ground and only used a few times a year.

Hi there. We've just done exactly this. You don't need an architect - sounds like you know how you want the layout? You will need a structural engineer to do the measurements and calculations - they will then submit the application to the council. You should get a few quotes from builders - we got a few details from Which local and then asked local neighbours who'd had work done recently. We ended up going with a recommendation. The builder sorted out plumbing & electrics. You'll need the electrical certs for council building regs.

When you appoint a builder you let the council know and they will inspect the building work, during and after, and then give you the necessary certificate.

Our room is just finished and it's fab. Good luck!

We did this in our last house and I loved my kitchen so so much!

Firstly you need to establish if its a load baring wall. A builder or a joiner will be able to advise on this. My dad is a joiner so he did it for us. Our wall was just a stud partition so it came down no problem. If yours is load varing you will need to get further advice from builder.

When we sold our house though, we had a tiny issue about not having "permission" to remove a wall from the council. I think this was incase we were idiots who removed a load baring wall. We contacted the council and got a letter of no intent, which basically is a letter saying the works we had done were compliant and they wouldn't be any repercussions to our improvements. I think however if your wall is load baring you will need permission, either a building warrant or proper planning.

On the trades side, a builder can arrange it all for you and subcontract work out to plumbers, electrics, plasterers etc. Or you can engage them all yourself. If you go down the self route it may be difficult to co-ordinate. Get quotes from a few companies too and go on recommendations if you can.

Thanks for all the info. That's really useful and great to hear that you are both pleased with them .What sort of size are your rooms and how have you used the space?

I think our wall is just a stud partition. It certainly doesn't feel solid. Not sure about layout. We are thinking of a central island but not sure if that is the best? We haven't got the budget to replace the existing kitchen but the house is only two years old so it still looks ok. I'm having trouble visualising the space at the moment. I keep standing in the hallway in between the doors to each room trying to picture it!

I would like to have room for a sofa and somewhere for DS to play as he always wants to be in the kitchen getting under my feet when I'm cooking. The dining room is at the front of the house and the kitchen at the rear. In an ideal world we would love to swap them round so that the dining area looks out onto the garden but that is just going to be too big a job.

We did this in our last house. Unless things have changed, you don't need permission (i.e. planning permission) but you do need building regs approval (those are two different things). We knew our wall was a load bearing wall - we just got builders in to give us a quote then went ahead. As others have said, you need to tell the Council and they will come to inspect the work if its a load bearing wall to make sure the appropriate support is in there. The builder arranged the electrics and the some plumbing (we had a radiator moved) but we did flooring / decor etc.

We ended up with a room that was 22' by 10'5. We had 2 x 2yr olds at the time and it was perfect. We all played in there and when I needed to be in the kitchen, they were always in sight. We had an island unit more or less where the wall had been on the kitchen side and then a dining table in what was the dining room but it still left plenty of space to play.

The only thing we did have to buy was a babydan room divider / gate - it went across the room (where the wall had been) to keep them out of the kitchen when I had lots of pans etc on the go. Would do it again in a heartbeat.

Depending upon the construction, in certain situations a stud partition can be loadbearing so don't assume that it isn't unless you have it checked.