Hello
Much has been written about tearing down load-bearing walls, but I can't find an answer to my question.
The house is 2 stories with an attic, built in 1920 with standing planks.
I now want to open up between the kitchen and the room and remove most of that wall.
The span will be 3 m.
I don’t want a glulam beam, as it takes up too much space.
But what dimension and type of steel beam is required??
How heavy will it be, is it manageable at all?
There must be tables for this kind of thing, but I can’t find them.
I understand that a steel beam needs to be covered with double gypsum, or?
If so, can't the double gypsum be replaced with minerit which has a better fire rating and perhaps manage with just one layer instead?
Should the gypsum/minerit also be between the ceiling and the beam?
Much has been written about tearing down load-bearing walls, but I can't find an answer to my question.
The house is 2 stories with an attic, built in 1920 with standing planks.
I now want to open up between the kitchen and the room and remove most of that wall.
The span will be 3 m.
I don’t want a glulam beam, as it takes up too much space.
But what dimension and type of steel beam is required??
How heavy will it be, is it manageable at all?
There must be tables for this kind of thing, but I can’t find them.
I understand that a steel beam needs to be covered with double gypsum, or?
If so, can't the double gypsum be replaced with minerit which has a better fire rating and perhaps manage with just one layer instead?
Should the gypsum/minerit also be between the ceiling and the beam?
If we start with the fire classification, I don't think you need to worry about it as long as the house doesn't have multiple fire compartments. That's usually not the case for a single-family home. A separate fire compartment might just be, for example, a garage in the house, the utility room in many cases.
Dimensioning isn't as simple as checking a table; a building engineer calculates that for you in an hour or two, including a site visit.
You will need to show such calculations, as an action like the one you're planning requires a building notification and possibly a building permit.
But I personally would guess that an engineer will propose a beam that's 120 - 180mm high. The weight in that case would be around 100-150kg.
Another thing that the designer must also look at is how the beam should be attached; it's far from certain that the wall around the hole can withstand the load, and in the worst case, you'll be required to reinforce with posts in the basement.
Dimensioning isn't as simple as checking a table; a building engineer calculates that for you in an hour or two, including a site visit.
You will need to show such calculations, as an action like the one you're planning requires a building notification and possibly a building permit.
But I personally would guess that an engineer will propose a beam that's 120 - 180mm high. The weight in that case would be around 100-150kg.
Another thing that the designer must also look at is how the beam should be attached; it's far from certain that the wall around the hole can withstand the load, and in the worst case, you'll be required to reinforce with posts in the basement.
I have done what you are going to do, the difference is that I have timber. My span is 320cm and the beam is an HEA 140 which means it is 140 high and 140 wide. It weighs about 25 kg/m.
As hempularen writes, you need a building permit to alter a load-bearing structure and then there must be a drawing done by a structural engineer.
As hempularen writes, you need a building permit to alter a load-bearing structure and then there must be a drawing done by a structural engineer.