Removing a load bearing wall means transferring what it carries onto a beam and down to the ground. The structural engineer we appoint decides the beam, the bearings and the padstones. We survey, prop, cut, install, make good and arrange the inspections, and we hold the propping until the load is properly transferred. This page sets out what that involves on a Royston house, and what the walls in the town are built of.
The application for a wall removal in Royston goes to Hertfordshire Building Control
Building control for Royston is not run in house by the council. North Herts Council owns Hertfordshire Building Control Limited jointly with seven other Hertfordshire local authorities, and that company provides the service. Structural work of this kind is notifiable, so the application is made and the inspections arranged before the wall is touched.
We make that application and coordinate the inspections as part of the job. It keeps the sequence honest. The propping is seen while it is holding, the bearings are seen before the beam sits down, and the completed work is seen before it disappears behind plaster.
A wall in Royston may be gault brick, red brick or clunch
The council's conservation area assessment records a large number of gault brick buildings in the town, pale yellow or white because the gault clay contains chalk, used for 19th century buildings once improved transport made them cheaper. Red and orange bricks from local clays belong to the 18th and early 19th centuries, laid in a predominantly Flemish bond with relatively thin joints.
Clunch, which is hard chalk cut into blocks, is also used for walling in Royston and survives in buildings such as number 48a Kneesworth Street. Clunch does not behave like brick under a needle or a padstone. Which material you have decides the propping method and the bearing detail, so we establish it at survey rather than on the morning of the cut.
A rendered wall in Royston can have a timber frame behind it
The council records that timber framed buildings survive in Royston but have been rendered or given a classical brick re-fronting, so the frame is not visible from the street. Where framing is exposed it is at end gables, at jetties, or under the carriageways that run through buildings to the rear courtyards.
A frame carries load through posts and beams rather than through a continuous wall, so the load path has to be traced before anything is cut. Removing part of a frame is a different job from removing part of a masonry wall. We open up and record what is there, and the engineer we appoint designs from the actual construction.
The load has to reach the ground, and under the town centre that ground is chalk
British Geological Survey 1:50,000 mapping on sheet 204, Biggleswade, gives the Holywell Nodular Chalk Formation as the bedrock beneath Royston town centre. Chalk is a competent bearing material. The question on any single job is still what sits under your particular bearing point.
Where the engineer calls for a new pier, a pad or a strengthened footing, we dig and record before the steel is ordered. Nothing is taken from a map. The map tells you what to expect, and the trial hole tells you what you have.
- Making good, plastering and skirting reinstatement
- RSJ and steel beam installation to the approved design
- Final level checks before the temporary props come out
- Spine wall openings in Victorian and Edwardian terraces
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
Why Choose GS Renovation in Royston
The value in this job is the load path, and that is where we concentrate. We appoint the structural engineer, build to the calculations issued, and keep the temporary support in place until the permanent support is bearing. The building control application for Royston goes to Hertfordshire Building Control, and we make it and book each inspection to match our own programme rather than leaving you to chase it. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured, registered in England, company number 14611254, and rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Building control sign-off arranged so the opening is documented
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Paperwork and certificates handed over for when you sell
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Downstand and flush beam options priced at quotation stage