Knocking wall down - price...?

[Annie1290]

After a second viewing today, a wall we have planned to knock down has been declared by my dad as 'solid concrete' rather than the plasterboard stuff we originally thought. Has electric cable through it and is possibly a supporting wall. Although this is vague, any ideas at what I'm looking at price wise, best case scenario and worst case?

We had thought we might be able to do ourselves so have no budget yet, but as it's the first thing required before decorating, I need it done asap...so any ideas on timescale either?!

Concrete? Is it a non-standard construction house? If it were a brick wall, then you're looking around £300-400 for structural calcs plus the cost of removing the wall and putting steels in.

Your location and size of wall might help for people to give a price indication. Eg, a friend of mine wanted to widen her small kitchen diner up North (brick walls) and was quoted £1k inclusive of structural engineer fees but not building control.

You need to hire a structural engineer to calculate the required rsj beam. Building control will also be involved including their fees and getting the required completion certificate. IF you're planning to do the demo yourself or hire professionals, make sure you/they are using the right acro props, etc. I've read a recent case where the subcontracted workers didn't use the right ones and it caused more harm to the building, all workers on-site had to stop work and evacuate until building control and appropriate actions have taken place to remedy and declared safe.

You also need to check with your local council. For eg, Bolton's:

www.bolton.gov.uk/website/pages/Buildingcontrolinspections.aspx

www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200130/common_projects/33/internal_walls/4

We had thought we might be able to do ourselves so have no budget yet, but as it's the first thing required before decorating, I need it done asap...so any ideas on timescale either?! Have you exchanged contracts already on a second viewing? If you can't afford to do it properly, I would hold off.

A concrete wall would be very unusual would it not? What kind of house is it?

I don’t believe you need to hire an engineer, just ask a local builder round to have look and quote. How busy he is or his lead time would be hard for us to guess,,,

It is is supporting its a couple of £k to get the drawings, steel and the work done.

We paid £1200 for a supporting wall to be demolished and steels put in. It depends where you are and how big the wall is.

Speak to a builder, this is what they do. They will tell you if it’s a supporting wall or not. I’m not sure your dad knows to be honest. For example I’d be surprised if it was concrete. However he is right, you can’t just knock it down if you’re not sure, so speak to a local builder.

We've just paid £1k. It should be fairly easy to guess if it's a supporting wall- is it exterior or original exterior? Is it a major part of the house? Or is it seperating rooms etc? You can't be certain but an educated guess should be easy

I think £1-2k, depending on how wide the gap is, is probably about right. You may well need a steel, which can get v expensive if you need to support across metres and metres. DO get a structural engineer if it's a structural wall.

I'm guessing by concrete he means concrete blocks.

Really depends if it's supporting or not. Here:
upstairs brick not supporting we did ourselves so it took half a day and was the cost of the tools.
Downstairs, supporting, needing new lintel for over a window 1.5 k.

The electrical cable itself Doesn't stop the demolition (you turn the power off before demolition!) but what do you want doing with it afterwards?
Also you'll need to replaster to tidy it up, etc.

Even if you consult with a builder, any builder that isn't able to reference the relevant law and doesn't use a building inspector for this kind of work is dodgy especially if it's a load bearing wall. You will still need a structural engineer to calculate the load rather than rely on a builder as each property is different and you will need a building inspector to sign it off especially when it comes to selling your house in future. Any decent builder can recommend you what kind of steel beam required but he won't be able to provide you with the necessary calculations. Do it right or don't do it at all.

IF hired, will he be present during the demolition work and ensure that the walls are appropriately supported? As stated previously, a highly recommended builder with years of experience subcontracted the removal of supporting walls ended up making the house worst.

There's a thread on AIBU where a homeowner's wall have collapsed weeks after due to the new next door owner demolishing some wall without consent on a listed building.