Wall Removal and RSJ Installation in Newport Pagnell
Knock throughs on two very different kinds of house, ten minutes from our base.
Taking a wall out is the quickest way to change how a Newport Pagnell house feels, and it is a different job on the older streets than on the estates. On a Georgian or Victorian house near the High Street or on Tickford Street the walls are solid brick, often carrying more than they look, and the openings above them are on timber lintels of uncertain age. On the sixties and seventies housing at Green End the walls are blockwork and the structure is predictable.
Either way the sequence is the same. A structural engineer sizes the steel, we prop, cut, install the beam on padstones, then fire protect and box it in so the ceiling runs through flush. Building Control inspect and sign it off. Being ten minutes away means the engineer’s visit, the inspection and the work itself can be arranged around you rather than around a long drive.
Steels in solid wall houses
A nine inch solid wall in an older Newport Pagnell house does not just carry the floor above; it often carries a chimney, a purlin or a roof load that has found its way there over two centuries of alterations. The engineer looks at the whole load path rather than the wall alone, and the padstones and bearings are designed for soft brick, which cannot take the point load a modern block can. Where the wall sits on a shallow footing, the foundation under the new pier sometimes needs looking at too.
Inside an unlisted house the work needs no planning application even in the conservation area, though it always needs Building Regulations approval. On a listed house, and Newport Pagnell has several, removing an internal wall can need listed building consent. On a terrace or a semi the Party Wall etc. Act may come into it where the beam bears on the shared wall. None of that is planning advice for a specific property. It is what tends to apply locally, and we confirm it with the council or a planning professional where it matters.
Five star
Google reviews
£5m
Public liability
10+
Years’ trade experience
Family run
Milton Keynes based
Structural alterations we have built
Our own photographs, some mid build, because that is where you can see how a job was put together. More on the projects page.
Typical works can include
Every project in Newport Pagnell is different. Depending on the agreed scope, works may include:
- Structural engineer calculations, where required and where included within the agreed scope
- Temporary works, acrow props and strongboys
- Opening formed and masonry cut back
- Padstones or spreader plates bedded to specification
- Steel beam installed, levelled and packed
- Fire protection to the steel and boxing in
The full list, and how we run the job, is on the main structural alterations page.
Very good and reliable
Questions from Newport Pagnell
How long does it take to remove a wall and fit an RSJ in Newport Pagnell?
The structural work itself is usually two to three days: propping, cutting out, installing the steel and making it safe. Then the fire protection, boxing in and plastering, and a drying period before decoration. From the first visit to a finished opening is typically three to five weeks including the engineer’s design and the Building Control inspection.
Can you tell if my wall is load bearing before we commit?
Usually on the first visit, from the direction of the joists, what sits above and how the house was built. Where it is not obvious we lift a board or open a small inspection hole. On older Newport Pagnell houses we would rather check than assume, because walls in these buildings have a habit of carrying loads nobody planned.
What is the difference between planning permission and Building Regulations?
Planning is about whether you are allowed to build the thing at all: size, appearance, effect on neighbours. Building Regulations are about whether it is safe and properly built: structure, insulation, fire, drainage, ventilation, electrics.
They are separate approvals. An extension can need no planning permission whatsoever and still require Building Control approval. For structural work we generally prefer the Full Plans route, so drawings and calculations are checked before we start rather than problems surfacing halfway through.
We work alongside Building Control and structural engineers regularly and can manage that liaison where it forms part of the agreed scope. Their fees and appointments are not automatically included unless the quotation says so.
How long will the work take?
It depends on the job, and anyone who gives you a number without seeing the house is guessing. As a rough guide: a bathroom is two to three weeks, a kitchen refit two to four, a single storey rear extension is usually ten to fourteen weeks from breaking ground, and a full house renovation runs three to six months depending on scale.
Weather, Building Control inspections and lead times on windows, doors and kitchens all move those numbers. We build realistic float into the programme rather than promising a date we cannot hold.
Other work we do in Newport Pagnell
Structural alterations nearby
Also covering Sherington Emberton Lavendon Tickford North Crawley Stoke Goldington
Planning structural alterations in Newport Pagnell?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.