pole or less light?

[Snowsister]

We are planning a knockhrough our galley kitchen into our dining room and extend out the back.

Architect and structural engineer gave us a choice of a pole half way across the back of the house or a low rsj beam which will drop down from ceiling by a foot cutting out light.

Wwyd ?

Or you could do what we did and get the reinforced joist buried in the ceiling making it flat. More work, a bit more money and a stronger joist needed but definitely worth it.

How much more work is it pascha?

Right. Having had a quick tutorial from my husband:

A standard RSJ sits below the joists which run through the house holding up the upper floor. The joists are secured within the inner brick skin of the house (our house is traditional double skin construction - brick cavity brick). The RSJ is heaved into position beneath them and secured and bobs your uncle - you have a lovely foot-deep eyesore in your kitchen.

A concealed RSJ sits in the same position the joists holding the upper floors up previously ended. The joists had to be shortened and reshaped to fit into the RSJ, They had to weld an inch thick metal plate onto the top of the RSJ, longer than the width of the RSJ itself, to take the weight of both the inner and outer brick skin.

The RSJ is basically now taking the entire weight of the upper house. The structural engineer has to be absolutely sure of the calculations. Ours had a row with the buildings inspector over the phone and came down in person to prove his calcs were right.

The house is still standing and we have a lovely smooth ceiling and lots of light.

Its more work because of the refashioning of the joists, and the need for temporary needles to be placed through both brick skins while they were worked on.

Ask your structural engineer. Its doable.

Wow thanks for that information pascha (and Mr pascha). I love the sound of more light and smooth ceilings.

I will speak to structural engineer tomorrow and see what he thinks.