Taking out a load bearing wall means replacing the wall with a beam, and getting the load down to something that can carry it. We survey, appoint the structural engineer, prop, remove, install and make good. We build to the engineer's calculations and never produce them ourselves. This page covers the approval side of a wall removal in Slough, including what to do when the wall went before you owned the house.
Slough says removing a wall will probably need building regulations approval
Slough Borough Council states that changes to an existing building, such as removing a wall or a chimney, will probably need building regulations approval. That is the starting position for any internal wall you are considering, and it holds whether or not the wall turns out to be load bearing once it is opened up.
The practical order is survey first, engineer second, application third and demolition last. We check what sits above the wall, what the floor above spans onto, and where the load lands at ground level. That goes to the engineer. Nothing comes out until the beam is specified and the approval route is settled.
If the wall came out before you bought the house
Slough Borough Council takes building control regularisation applications for unauthorised work carried out on or after 11 November 1985. It warns that you may be required to uncover certain aspects of the work so it can establish whether it complies. An opening made by a previous owner without approval is what that route exists for.
The council states that its building control service enforces the building regulations by informal means wherever possible, and that it is the responsibility of all designers, builders and building owners to make sure they comply. Uncovering an existing opening is not a pleasant job. It is a smaller one than selling a house with an unexplained beam in it. We open up, record what is there, and price the remedial work from what we find rather than from a guess.
The West Villas at Upton Park have half basements under them
Slough Borough Council's Upton Conservation Area Character Survey records the West Villas at Nos 17 to 43 odd, on the west side of Upton Park, as built from 1843 onwards. It describes them as two storey with gabled attic rooms and half basements, semi detached with four detached villas among them.
A half basement changes where a load path ends. When a ground floor wall is replaced by a beam, the load has to reach a bearing able to take it, and in a house with a half basement that means establishing what sits under the ground floor before the steel is sized. We open up at survey stage and give the structural engineer what is actually there.
- Lintel replacement where an existing opening has failed
- Knock-throughs between front and rear reception rooms
- Dust screens and floor protection through occupied rooms
- Building control notification and inspection sign-off
- Electrics, pipework and radiators diverted out of the wall
The GS Renovation Difference in Slough
A wall removal is a sequencing job before it is a demolition job. We survey, appoint the structural engineer, apply to Slough Borough Council's building control service, prop, and only then cut. Where the house has a half basement, or an opening that someone else made without approval, that is established at survey rather than on the day the props go in. You get one point of contact for the engineer, the steel, the inspections and the making good. GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254, and rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder. Quotations are free and carry no obligation.
- Padstones and bearings detailed at both ends of the opening
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- A dedicated project manager from first survey to handover
- Our own trades on site rather than a chain of subcontractors
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- We establish what the wall actually carries before we quote