Building regs or not?

[OrangeTina]

Hi. We've just bought a house where one room is joined to another via an arch (typical door width in size).

We're having some work done to one of the rooms and have asked the builder to put in a door where the arch is. On fitting the frame the builder pointed out it doesn't look like there's a lintel in the wall above the arch, meaning the previous owners removed some wall to make an arch opening without making sure the load from above (loft conversion above) was being distributed properly.

Now here's where I'm confused. We had the structural surveyor out and he confirmed there's no lintel. He's given our builder the measurements of what we need to get but he's being very vague about whether we need to involve building regs in this or not, saying "if" you get the council out etc.

Given the arch was already there for many years and wasn't approved by building controls, and we're actually going to put a lintel in and essentially close the arch by putting a door there, i can't work out if we need building controls approval or not. The info I'm looking at is all referring to if you're removing a wall which is load bearing whereas that's already happened many years ago!

Anyone ever had similar?

We have something similar in the house we've bought. A load bearing wall had been removed and replaced (slightly different position) by a stud wall. No building regs.

Surveyor flagged it as a possible problem. Our builder investigated further once we owned house. It had probably been done decades earlier, but then they'd done a loft conversion in addition within last ten years which meant a lot more weight was on it. Basically it had been a 'bit dodgy' for decades and 'probably dangerous' for several years.

We got a steel put in and it's just been signed off by building control. Don't think we had to do that as they would have had no idea about it but when we do sell it's one less thing that could be questioned.

I wouldn't bother, just put the lintel in and take some photos before it's all plastered over so that when you come to sell you can show that it was done properly.

properly built arches are as strong , or stronger under compression than a lintel.

if it’s been built right ther is no need to change anything just fit the door frame , stud out the arch and plaster over.

www.gobrick.com/docs/default-source/read-research-documents/technicalnotes/31-brick-masonry-arches.pdf?sfvrsn=0

an interesting read . 🙂

I would get building control out. If nothing else, it will come in useful when you sell the property. A photo won't cut it for conveyancing, they'll want proper paperwork or an indemnity policy.

Very unlikely to be a properly constructed brick arch. Much more likely to be a pair of decorative arch formers like this, with no load-bearing strength:

www.ukplaster.com/acatalog/Arch-former-160.html

Building control will Be about £500 i would just get it to be honest

Without pictures it’s impossible to tell.

If you plan to sell in future might be worth it to get a certificate.

Given the arch was already there for many years and wasn't approved by building controls, and we're actually going to put a lintel in and essentially close the arch by putting a door there, i can't work out if we need building controls approval or not. The info I'm looking at is all referring to if you're removing a wall which is load bearing whereas that's already happened many years ago!

I would say that you need to get building regs done.

The fact that it wasn't done properly before doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be done properly now, and just because you're improving what is already there doesn't mean that what you're doing meets current standards. I don't think the argument of "well it's better than what it was before" would exempt you from building regs 😅

Just to say though, I feel your pain. I've been asking a lot of advice on building regs on another forum as we're in the middle of doing a shitload of work and discovering that basically nothing was done to building regs before. This has caused problems with getting the new work completed and certified.