GS Renovation removes load-bearing walls in Hemel Hempstead houses, in the post-war New Town neighbourhoods and in the older stock of the Old Town. Those are different builds and they behave differently once a wall is opened. We appoint a structural engineer, prop and cut to the design, install the steel and coordinate the building control inspections.
Two housing stocks, and your wall belongs to one of them
The wall is either in a post-war New Town house or in older stock, and the two are read differently. Hemel Hempstead officially became a New Town on 4 February 1947. The first houses erected as part of the New Town plan were at Longlands, Adeyfield, and went up in the spring of 1949. Housebuilding at Bennetts End began in 1951. Chaulden and Warners End were commenced in 1953.
In a post-war house the internal walls, the floor construction and the roof were designed together, so the engineer is reading a coherent structure. Older stock has been altered, refronted and added to over a long period, and the load path has to be established by opening up rather than assumed. We survey before we price. Where a wall turns out to be carrying more than expected, you hear it before the work starts.
A brick front can have a timber frame behind it
On the Old Town High Street, what looks like a brick wall may be a later skin over an earlier frame. The character statement records that the local vernacular there is hidden behind plaster, render or brick, with earlier timber framed buildings refronted or partially rebuilt. It records timber framing as seen to the side and rear of buildings, and records timber framed dwellings from the late 15th century to the early 18th century.
That changes the method. Propping a timber frame is not propping masonry, and a bearing for a new beam may have to be formed rather than simply cut. We take these openings apart in stages, with the engineer returning to inspect once the structure is visible, and we agree any change to the design in writing before carrying on.
When taking part of a building down needs written authority
Inside a Dacorum conservation area, written authority is needed to demolish or partly demolish a building larger than 115 cubic metres in volume, including some garden walls and chimneystacks. That is a demolition control, and it sits alongside Building Regulations rather than instead of them. Where your property is inside the conservation area boundary, we establish the position with the council before a scope is fixed.
Outside that boundary the question does not arise, and an internal load-bearing wall removal is a Building Regulations matter. Either way the structural design comes first. We do not produce structural calculations. We appoint an engineer, build to the calculations, and put the work in front of building control.
The building control notices around the work
They go to Hertfordshire Building Control, based at 4th Floor, Campus West, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL8 6BX. Commencement has to be notified through the Submit a Plan portal before building work begins, and a final inspection needs 24 hours notice. We coordinate both, so the beam is inspected while the bearings are still open and the completion certificate follows without a second visit.
- Lintel replacement where an existing opening has failed
- Ceiling reinstatement and level correction across the opening
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Assessment of whether a wall is load-bearing
- Party Wall Act notices where the opening reaches a shared wall
Why Hemel Hempstead Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Hemel Hempstead has two very different housing stocks, and a wall removal in a post-war corporation house is not the same job as one in an Old Town property. We survey which you have before we price, appoint the structural engineer, and build to the calculations that come back. Our founder has over 30 years of hands-on experience of this work. We are fully insured, we work clean in an occupied house, and quotations are free and carry no obligation.
- Padstones and bearings detailed at both ends of the opening
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Building control applications and inspections coordinated for you
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Plastering, skirting and making good included in the price
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors