Removing Nib Walls

PorkBlonde

I’m trying to get an idea of some renovation costs for a house I’m looking at buying.

The house has had its kitchen extended to form a kitchen / utility. This involved removing an exterior supporting wall. Where the exterior wall was are a couple of nib walls on each side which I'd like to remove to open the room up further. The questions is are these likely to be supporting walls and if so how much might it cost to remove them?

*j*

I think you'll find they support the steel which in turn supports the wall above.
Do you really want these to fall down?
If not, best leave the supports alone!!

*j*

PorkBlonde

To clarify, I meant if they are supporting to remove the nibs and embed the support in the adjacent walls, not remove the support entirely!

societys_child

If the nibs are supporting the RSJ and you want to remove them, you will need a much bigger RSJ (longer and possibly much larger section) to span the wider gap. This would normally involve removing any existing RSJ.

The wall it is supporting (above it) would obviously need supporting whilst this work is carried out. You may need a structural engineer to calculate the RSJ required.

DVardysShadow

societys_child wrote: »

If the nibs are supporting the RSJ and you want to remove them, you will need a much bigger RSJ (longer and possibly much larger section) to span the wider gap. This would normally involve removing any existing RSJ.

Exactly. Also the nib walls will be providing rigidity for the walls they project from - preventing them buckling horizontally in the case of a minor earth tremor [seriously] or other lateral shock.

Additionally, the length of the required beam may have been impractical to place originally, giving rise to the current arrangement.

CashisKing

The cost will be too much.
You will gain 1sq ft of space, think about how much the house is worth per sq ft then decide its not worth doing!

tony6403

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Exactly. Also the nib walls will be providing rigidity for the walls they project from - preventing them buckling horizontally in the case of a minor earth tremor [seriously] or other lateral shock.

Additionally, the length of the required beam may have been impractical to place originally, giving rise to the current arrangement.

This is good advice. The nibs are there to retain the structural integrity of the house and are a requirement under building regs.