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Restoration & Refurbishment

Supports for Beam in Timber Framed House

Anonymous user 14/03/2024 - 2.32 PM

At the moment, we are considering removing a load bearing wall to create a single larger room out of two smaller rooms. The house is 1.5 storey 1978 timber framed house, the load bearing wall is made from 4" timbers, and runs perpendicular to the first floor joists. We are planning on replacing the wall with an appropriate steel beam (all caculations to be carried out by appropriate engineer, Building Control will be informed, and Building Warrant applied for etc), but at this stage there are a couple of things we want to know before we engage structural engineer & builders (want to go in with our eyes open). 1) The distance that we will be spanning will be about 3.9m, will this need an RSJ/steel beam, or is a timber solution possible? Are there other options? 2) In the information that we have seen, it looks like a beam needs to be supported by brick piers with padstone at the top - is this the case in a timber framed house? Seems unusual to have some brick columns in the middle of a timber house, or can the beam be supported on heavy timber? There is a dwarf wall below the current load bearing wall at the moment. Any advice and pointers would be very much appreciated at this stage, just so we know what we are looking at. Thanks,

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2 Answers

Mehdi El-Radhi Construction Ltd

Rating: 5 out of 5

Machynlleth

An RSJ is probably the most practical. For a span that size a glulam beam may be another option but you may find that it has to be very deep. It would certainly look nicer if you chose to leave it exposed. As for supporting the beam, I think timber should work as long as its properly sized and fixed back into the walls, speak to your local Building Control Officer, thats what they are for.

Answered11 February 2014

Anonymous user

If your house is timber framed, then a timber beam would be used, as stated by the previous answer, a laminated beam would be Protocol. Reinforced steel beams are used in block/ brick/ stone construction. That said, our house is block construction on all four exterior walls and framed cavity walls inside. This means we had to use an RSJ to open a span from the inside of the perimeter wall, and connect to a vertical steel post built into an existing timber framed wall at the opposing end.

Answered14 October 2014