Kitchen Extension Support Pillar?

[4yearsnosleep]

We're having a 10m x 3m extension on the back of our house, making a large room of 10m x 6m. We 'could' have a massive RSJ but it would be 45cm wide! We've been advised to have a support post or pillar. I have found loads of pics with a pillar but not a round steel post....any pics for me? Recommendations? Thanks

We are about to start an L-shaped wrap-around extension to create a big kitchen diner. There’s no real option other than to have a stupid annoying pillar because it’s the current corner of the house. Our builder is going to turn it into a bespoke bookcase for us, though, so at least it’ll serve a purpose rather than just standing there twattishly.

[quote LittleOverwhelmed]@4yearsnosleep are you planning to zone the room (10m is a very long room)? Does a pillar fit in with that? A nice two sided open fireplace perhaps [/quote]
Yes we will zone the space, kitchen and dining space on one side, and a living area on the other, we did a very similar project with our last house but had the pillar on the kitchen island and it really annoyed me... so determined to lose the pillar this time, even though it's a wider house so will need a bigger steel!

Thanks for that LittleOverwhelmed - that’s interesting. I gather from our builder that it could be achievable, but it would cost a lot more to do (we’re on a fairly tight budget) and would be a lot more of a faff. Thanks for sharing your plans though - yours looks lovely!

@CatkinToadflax
The T shaped beams in this picture support the corner of our house. It’s perfectly possibly not to have a pillar. You just need a decent engineer!

I know Percy but you live in a mansion! We haven’t got the budget unfortunately. The pillar turning into a bookcase is a better option than nothing.

Oh! And more money! These are oak clad steels.

Regarding 10m. Yes I’m sure it’s possible. DH is the engineer, not me. However I do know that the weight above the beam has to be supported by the ground eventually. This is why the supports for the beam must be properly embedded in the walls at each end. The load will go down the walls into the foundations/ground. This would be a substantial beam so you need to get calcs done by an engineer used to working with bigger houses. Very large houses are steel frame construction so you are better off with an engineer used to these.

If this is the whole end of the house, how are you glazing it? What opening elements do you want? You need to have an engineer who can talk through the possibilities with you.

I was going to post a picture of a 25,000 sq ft real mansion where DH's company designed the steel frame! Our home is not quite that big! Everyone wants basements now so reinforced concrete is another trend for these massive houses.

My parents built their house- ground floor was a 9m by 28m open space, no internal walls at all on the ground floor (it was made to look like an art gallery), and four beds and kitchen and dining upstairs. It can be done, though harder if retrofitting.