An RSJ in a Hertford house is a building regulations job before it is a building job. A structural engineer we appoint produces the calculations, and the beam, padstones and bearings are built to what that engineer specifies. What the wall is made of, and what sits under the house, decide the detail.
Who approves an RSJ in Hertford
Your building regulations application does not go to East Herts District Council. The council does not run building control in house. The service is provided by Hertfordshire Building Control, which East Herts owns jointly with seven other Hertfordshire local authorities. Applications are submitted online through the Hertfordshire Building Control portal at submitaplan.com, and the operations team number is 01438 879990. We coordinate that application and the inspections that follow, so you have one point of contact rather than chasing a sign off yourself.
Bengeo Street brickwork that changes the bearing detail
Numbers 22 to 40 Bengeo Street are built in rat trap bond, which the council describes as bricks laid on edge. The conservation area appraisal calls it an unusual bonding, and it says the brickwork should not be painted or rendered over.
Bricks laid on edge are not the same bearing material as solid bonded brickwork. Where a wall is built that way, the engineer needs to see it opened up before the bearing detail is fixed, not after the props are in. The making good has to follow the appraisal too, so the face brickwork is reinstated rather than covered.
What is under the ground in the town centre
The ground changes street by street in central Hertford. British Geological Survey 1:50,000 mapping shows Kempton Park Gravel Member sand and gravel over the chalk at Salisbury Square, Market Place, Maidenhead Street, Bull Plain and the western end of Fore Street. At the eastern end of Fore Street and at Old Cross the mapping is alluvium. Chalk is mapped at the surface only in pockets, for example around Castle Street.
On the valley floors the mapping is alluvium of clay, silt, sand and gravel above the chalk. That covers Hartham Common, the Beane at Horns Mill and North Road, and the northern end of Port Vale. At Hertford North station itself the mapping is Kesgrave Catchment Subgroup sand and gravel. All of that matters where a beam lands on a new pier and the load has to be carried down to a foundation.
- Structural engineer's calculations arranged and followed
- Steel delivered cut, drilled and primed to the engineer's schedule
- Goalpost frames where two walls meet at a corner
- RSJ and structural steel beam installation
- Access and lifting plans for restricted London sites
Why Choose GS Renovation in Hertford
A beam is one of the few jobs where the order cannot be shuffled. The engineer is appointed and the sizes are calculated before anything is ordered. The building regulations application then goes to Hertfordshire Building Control, and the inspector wants to see the bearings before they are covered. We handle the appointment, the application and the inspection bookings in that sequence. GS Renovation is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254.
- Building control inspected at the propping and beam stages
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Temporary propping in place before anything is cut
- Beams boxed and fire protected to the approved detail
- Aftercare and snagging support once the job is finished
- Waste cleared as we go, not left piled in the garden