Help! An engineer wants to put a support beam in the middle of my sink :(

[Missboo1]

Help! Has anyone had this happen to them?

Our architect plans went off to building regulations and have come back with a lovely "X marks the spot" in the middle of my Belfast sink! :(

I've tried searching online - as it's the weekend and father's day tomorrow our architect hasn't responded to my initial "you're joking right?" enquiry and groundworks start next week so we need to know if we're going to have to redesign the whole kitchen!

Does anyone familiar with building know if these steels can be built with the wall? It is currently marked on the external wall - but can it go within it? Or does it have to be Infront of the wall and boxed in? Help please!

It might be possible to have it built into the wall if there is nothing on the othernside of the wall. We had similar issue and weren’t able to build it into the wall because wall was thin and built up to boundary (so have boxed in thing in kitchen). But IF your wall is either thick or isn’t near a boundary you should be fine to have it either within the wall or with the lump on the outside not inside.

Our lump is 10cm so actually depending what size sink you choose there is a chance it could fit in front of beam even if lump is inside

Good luck

You put your sink next to it and build a shallow cabinet around the column to blend into your other cabinets as needed

can you post a pic? When you say "beam" do you mean an upright post like a pillar? A stanchion? Or a wall pier?

Yes it will be a stanchion - that's how it's described on the plans! I've attached a pic of the drawing where it is marked. It's on the original line of the house.

Embed it in the wall, or move the sink. Hardly the end of the world!

The column/stanchion probably won’t be as big as he has shown, it is only a rough sketch. When he tells your architect the actual size they can work out a detail that minimises the projection of the column into the room. With suitable protection/insulation it may be able to be hidden within the cavity and inner leaf of the wall.

I can't really make it out from the pic. As well as it's own size, it will have a fire-resistant cladding.

But you could probably reposition your sink by six inches.

We had this. Just push out that entire run of units by 200mm and that should completely disguise any projection.

Or make it look like a false chimney breast a d out your hob there and your sink in your island.

Personally I think your sink not being lined up with the hob looks odd anyway