GS Renovation installs RSJs and steel beams across Eltham, from the 1930s semi-detached houses off the main SE9 roads to the wider interwar homes nearer Greenwich Park. With over 30 years of structural experience, we open up load-bearing walls safely, sizing every beam through a structural engineer and clearing the work with building control.
Steel beams for Eltham interwar semis
The typical Eltham job removes the wall between the front and back reception rooms of a 1930s semi, creating one long, bright living space. That dividing wall almost always carries load from the floor and roof above, so we install a steel beam sized by a structural engineer rather than guessing. The beam bears onto concrete padstones at each end, spreading the weight down through the existing brickwork of the house.
Before any brick comes down, we set up temporary propping to hold the structure, then carry out staged demolition so nothing shifts unexpectedly. Working in an interwar suburban home on a generous SE9 plot gives us room to handle steel and materials without churning up the whole street. Every stage is inspected, and the finished opening is signed off by building control for your records.
Party wall steelwork in shared Eltham houses
Many Eltham semis share a party wall with the neighbouring property, and chimney breasts and dividing walls often sit within it. When a steel beam bears onto or cuts into that shared wall, the Party Wall Act applies, and notice must be served on the adjoining owner before work starts. We flag this at the survey stage so there are no surprises and the paperwork is in place well ahead of the build.
Removing a chimney breast on the ground floor to widen a room is common in these houses, but the stack above still needs supporting, usually on a gallows bracket or a beam. We work with the structural engineer to specify the right solution for your SE9 property, prop safely during the works, and leave the opening ready for plastering and finishing throughout.
Checking the loft before touching the wall
The loft answers questions you cannot answer from downstairs. In an Eltham 1930s semi the roof is usually a cut timber structure with purlins carrying the rafters, and those purlins are often propped by struts that come down onto an internal wall. If that wall is the one you want out, the new beam is not simply carrying a floor, it is carrying part of the roof as well, and the load is significantly higher.
We also check whether the water tank sits over the wall line, whether the ceiling joists run the way we expect, and whether anything was altered when a previous owner boarded the loft out. All of it goes to the structural engineer with the survey, because a beam sized for a floor load and then asked to carry roof struts is the sort of error that shows up as a sagging ridge years afterwards. Ten minutes with a torch in the roof space at survey stage prevents that entirely.
- Lintel and catnic support to smaller openings
- Temporary propping and staged, controlled demolition
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Load-bearing wall removal and knock-throughs
- Goalpost frames where two walls meet at a corner
Why Eltham Homeowners Choose GS Renovation
Eltham homeowners choose GS Renovation because we treat steelwork as structural engineering, not guesswork. We coordinate the engineer's calculations, padstones, propping and building control sign-off, and handle party wall notices where the beam meets a shared wall. With 30+ years across SE9 and the Royal Borough of Greenwich, we open up your home safely and leave it ready to finish.
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- Temporary propping in place before anything is cut
- Registered in England, Companies House no. 14611254
- Levels and deflection checked before the props come out
- Restricted London access planned before the steel arrives
- Itemised pricing, so you can see what every stage costs