GS Renovation installs RSJs and steel beams across Addiscombe, where CR0 is dominated by bay-fronted Victorian and Edwardian terraces with rear closet wings and side returns. With more than 30 years of structural work in Croydon, we remove load-bearing walls safely, from the ground floor of a two-up two-down to a full through-lounge.
Load-bearing wall removal in Addiscombe terraces
The wall between the two reception rooms in an Addiscombe terrace is almost always load-bearing, carrying the floor joists above and, in many cases, a chimney breast and stack. Before anything is touched, we have a structural engineer calculate the load and specify the correct steel, whether that is a single RSJ or a pair of beams bolted together for a wider opening across a bay-fronted front room.
On site we install temporary propping to take the weight, then carry out staged demolition so nothing is left unsupported. The beam bears onto concrete or engineered padstones at each end, spreading the load into the solid brickwork. Building control inspects the padstones and the finished steel, and we keep the property watertight and clean while an Addiscombe family stays living upstairs.
Party wall steelwork on Addiscombe's shared walls
Because Addiscombe's terraces share a party wall with the house next door, any beam that bears into that dividing wall brings the Party Wall Act into play. We flag this early, help you serve the correct notice on your neighbour and coordinate with their surveyor if one is appointed, so the steelwork proceeds without a dispute holding up the job.
Chimney breast removal is a common companion to this work in CR0. Where a homeowner wants to reclaim the space in a closet wing or bedroom, the stack above has to be supported on a gallows bracket or a beam rather than left hanging. We size that support with the engineer, get it signed off by Croydon's building control channel and make good the shared wall properly.
Getting steel into a mid terrace house
A beam for an Addiscombe terrace is often four metres or more of solid steel, and there is no side access to bring it in. It comes through the front door, along the hall and into the room by hand, so we measure the turn at the foot of the stairs before the steel is ordered. Where the length or the weight makes that impossible, the engineer can specify two lighter sections bolted together on site to act as one beam.
Delivery needs a space on the street, and the roads around Ashburton Park are largely permit controlled, so we arrange a bay suspension or a timed drop rather than blocking your neighbours in. Everything that goes with the beam, the padstones, the props and the spreader plates, arrives before demolition day so the wall is never opened up while we wait on materials. Planning the delivery properly is what keeps a terrace job to a week.
- Steel columns, base plates and bolted connections
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Making good, plastering and finishing around the new steel
- Building control applications and inspection sign-off
- Lintel and catnic support to smaller openings
Trusted RSJ and Steel Beam Installation in Addiscombe
Addiscombe homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat steelwork as structural engineering, not guesswork. Every beam is sized by an engineer, propped safely, seated on proper padstones and signed off by building control, with party wall notices handled where the shared wall is affected. Thirty years across Croydon means we know how these terraces are built.
- Neighbours given notice before the noisy stages
- Party Wall Act notices served where a beam bears into a shared wall
- Clean, tidy and reliable tradespeople
- Steel ordered cut, drilled and primed to the schedule
- Levels and deflection checked before the props come out
- One point of contact on the phone, not a call centre