Structural Alterations in Towcester
Openings in ironstone cottages and Georgian brick, made by people who have propped and rebuilt old stone before.
Around Towcester the structural work divides by material. In the villages, Greens Norton, Silverstone, Abthorpe, Blakesley, the cottages are Northamptonshire ironstone, and an opening through a stone wall is a hand job: propped through with needles, cut carefully, a steel or an oak lintel on proper bearings, and the stone rebuilt in lime. In the town the older houses are Georgian and Victorian brick, and on the new estates south of the bypass the walls are block and the job is routine.
The stone work is the part that needs a builder who has done it. Our project photographs show a stone cottage doorway propped and stripped back, a new oak lintel levelled in, and the finished opening rebuilt around a solid oak door. That is the level of care every ironstone opening gets from us, and it is why we are comfortable taking these jobs on twenty minutes up the A5 from home.
Ironstone, oak and the engineer
Ironstone is soft and has no regular coursing to bear on, so the bearings for a new beam are built up properly and bedded in, and the load path above is checked, because cottage walls often carry a purlin or a chimney that nobody drew. Oak lintels suit cottage doorways and windows, moving with the wall and looking right; steel suits a wide opening into a kitchen or an extension. The engineer sizes it and we advise on which suits the building. Lime pointing on the rebuilt stone, never cement.
Several of the villages are conservation areas and a good number of cottages are listed, so an internal structural opening can need listed building consent as well as Building Regulations approval. In the town and on the new estates, internal work on an unlisted house needs Building Regulations approval only. West Northamptonshire Council or an approved inspector inspects the steel before it is covered. How it usually goes locally, not a ruling on your property, and confirmed with the council or a planning professional where it matters.
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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 Towcester 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.
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Questions from Towcester
Can you form an opening in an ironstone cottage wall near Towcester?
Yes. The wall is propped through, the opening cut by hand, the beam or oak lintel set on built up bearings, and the reveals rebuilt in matched stone and lime. It is slower than blockwork and the stone cottage doorway in our projects shows why the care is worth it. If the cottage is listed, consent is needed first.
Do you install RSJs on the new estates in Towcester too?
Yes. The kitchen diner knock through on a house at Towcester Vale or Wood Burcote is a straightforward two to three day job with an engineer’s design and a building control inspection, exactly as it would be on a Milton Keynes estate. It is usually the first stage of a kitchen refit.
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 Towcester
Structural alterations nearby
Also covering Wood Burcote Greens Norton Silverstone Deanshanger Cosgrove Roade
Planning structural alterations in Towcester?
Send a few photographs and tell us what you have in mind. We will come and look, and the written quotation costs nothing.