GS Renovation installs RSJs and steel beams in houses in Rickmansworth and the surrounding WD3 area. We appoint the structural engineer, build to their calculations, prop in stages, seat the steel on padstones and see the work through building control. Fully insured, free no obligation quotations, and one point of contact from the first visit to sign off.
What the wall you want opened up is built from
It may not be brick all the way through. The 1993 conservation area appraisal records timber framed buildings hidden under brick skins in the Rickmansworth conservation area. It records Church Street as retaining 16th and 17th century timber framed houses that were later covered by Georgian and Victorian brick facades. A beam sized for solid masonry is the wrong beam for a frame like that, and the bearing detail is different again.
So the first job is opening up, not ordering steel. We expose the head of the wall and both ends, and the engineer we appoint decides what is carrying load and where a beam can bear. The appraisal describes Bury Lane as continuing the scale of Church Street with modest Victorian terraced housing. At that scale the bearing lengths are short and the brickwork either side of an opening is doing more work than it looks. Padstone sizes come out of the calculations.
How the height of the house changes the beam
The load over an opening depends on how much house sits above it. The Batchworth Neighbourhood Design Code records the historic buildings along Rickmansworth High Street as 2 to 3 storeys and the residential houses in the town centre character area as 2 storeys. It puts building heights in Moneyhill at two storeys. In Moor Park it describes large detached houses on spacious individual plots, from the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s, and up to 2.5 storeys in height.
Those are not small differences once a roof, a stack and two floors rest on one beam. We measure the storey heights, the joist spans and the direction the floors run, and give those to the engineer before any section size is discussed. Where a chimney stack sits over the opening, either the beam carries it or the stack is dealt with first. That decision is made on site with the engineer present, not read off a floor plan.
Who inspects the steel once it is in
Building control for Three Rivers District Council is provided by Hertfordshire Building Control, which is jointly owned by Three Rivers and seven other Hertfordshire local authorities. It is a not for profit organisation that returns its profit to Hertfordshire local councils and their residents, and it can be reached on 01438 879990. We make the application and book the inspections as part of the job rather than leaving it to you.
The visit that governs the programme is the one before anything is covered. The beam needs to be seated on its padstones with the bearings still open to view, so nothing is boarded, boxed or plastered until it has been seen. We keep the engineer's calculations on site, photograph the bearings before they are closed up, and hand you the completion certificate at the end. That certificate is what a buyer's solicitor asks for later.
- Bearing checks into party walls and shared masonry
- Lintel and catnic support to smaller openings
- Ceiling and floor levels resolved where the beam sits below joists
- Building control applications and inspection sign-off
- Level, plumb and deflection checks before props are struck
The GS Renovation Difference in Rickmansworth
You get one accountable chain for the whole beam job: we appoint the structural engineer, build to their calculations, and deal with Hertfordshire Building Control on your behalf rather than leaving you to coordinate three parties yourself. GS Renovation is fully insured and registered in England, company number 14611254. Quotations are free and without obligation, and there is one point of contact throughout.
- Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
- A dedicated project manager from first survey to handover
- Making good and plastering priced in, not treated as an extra
- Free, no-obligation quotations
- Beams boxed and fire protected to the approved detail
- Steel ordered cut, drilled and primed to the schedule