Please talk to me about RSJs, esp. if you're in SE London

[NotAnotherNewNappy]

I am desperate to knock my kitchen and dining room into one. To do this I need to remove a load bearing wall with a corner chimney which backs onto a party wall.

I don't know where to start and am going round and road in circles. I think I need a structural engineer to make the plans for the council's building control dept.... But where do I find one? How do I know they are any good? What do I need them to produce (just steel calculation or a picture for the builder? How much are they likely to charge?

Then builders... Can I use my usual Eastern European team? Or do I need someone with proof of insurance and a flashy website? Hw much do you reckon they'll cost???

Please talk me through this and make it seem more doable. DH is convinced the house will fall down if we attempt to take it out - but I am sick of walking from the dining room, back through the hallway,into the living room and round the back to the kitchen e dry tie one of the DC wants some ketchup or drops a fork on the floor

Don't feel too daunted! We found the kitchen chap first, who recommended a wall-knockdown and make-good builders team, who recommended a structural engineer. The engineer charged about £310 for a visit, calcs, drawings and documentation. He sent this to us, not the builder.

I sent those calcs and specs to the kitchen fitter and the builders. The builders ordered and installed the RSJ; the kitchen fitter co-ordinated the trades and the council inspectors.

I applied for Building Control at the council and sent them the Structural Eng docs. They visited the site and saw the RSJ when installed.

At the end of the job I called the council back and they agreed all was good. About a week later I received the Certificate in the post.

It really wasn't difficult, but it did help that the different people had worked together before.

We are selling the property now and have been asked for the Certificate about 18 times by RE agent and surveyors and buyers, so you MUST have it.

Therefore it doesn't matter if you builders have a shiny website, but the work must fit the regs, and they should work within them.

I can pass you the Structural Eng details if you wish, I would use them again for sure.

Oh - we had the same layout as you, and the change has TRANSFORMED the house. I would never live in a house with a daft but fixable layout again, it's a Just Do It activity for sure. You won't regret it.

I would like to recommend the Structural Engineer we used - his name is John Wardle Structural Engineers. He is a very unassuming decent guy who was recommended by my builder. Building Control in Bromley (where my plans were submitted to) seemed to wave through his calculations without hardly looking at them based on the fact that it was him who drew them! He is not expensive either.

We paid him around £400 for a whole extensions worth of calculations, so I can't imagine that your costs would be any higher than that!
PM me if you want to know any more.

We're in SE London and have builders in at the moment. Our architect did the drawings but a structural engineer came and did the various calculations that needed doing - we've had long, thin horizontal windows installed along the side return and removed the chimney breast in the kitchen.

The structural engineer explained about the various options in terms of RSJs but we've opted for to go with the option that was over and above the minimum requirement. We then had to submit a proposal (with drawings and calculations) to Building Control.

Lewisham Building Control came in at a couple of key points to check that the RSJ met their requirements in terms of load and fire resistance and we've been granted a certificate of satisfactoryness (or something like that). Our builder (who is also Eastern European) has done much of the liaising.

I have the number of our engineer somewhere....would definitely recommend him (he was recommended by a friend in the first place).

Marking my place.

Thanks so much for all your responses... I like the idea it's a 'just do it' activity. It was my fist thought on viewing the house, I can't believe 18 months after moving in the bloody wall is still up.

Claudia &Zippy - please can your PM me your engineer's detail's?

I thought I had found a good builder to get cracking with it... But he's just stood me up after arranging to come round and give a quote. Not a great start, is it?