Removing internal walls

suzyq2909

Hi could someone give me some general advice about knocking down internal walls please?

1) Knocking down a non-load bearing bedroom wall which will make a 4-bed house a 3-bed house - who do I need to inform and what permission/approval would I need. Do I need to register that the house is now 3-bed (thinking of council tax possible?)

2) Knocking down a load-bearing wall to make kitchen open plan into the living room/diner - again what kind of approval would I need.

Apologies if this has been asked before, I did try searching beforehand. Thanks in advance.

rockjim69

We are just about to start a kitchen renovation that involves knocking down a load bearing wall to produce a similar effect to the one you describe. We have filled out a "Building Notice" form (you can download the PDF off your local council website) and have paid a fee (about £200, but is on a sliding scale up to about £500 depending on the cost of the building work) for the building inspection. The inspector will then come round once the steel supports have been installed to assess whether they are within building regulations and if so issue a completion certificate. We also had a structual engineer do some calcs to work out what steel supports we needed and sent a copy of the report with the building notice form.

Im not sure if the same rules apply for non-load bearing walls, although Im sure there will be plenty of more qualified people come after me on this thread who will know...

Angua2

Hiya. Sorry, but I've a few questions first. Pls forgive if you've already taken them into account. Sounds like you're doing the right thing already - getting advice & informing yourself before you lift a hammer! Well done - you'll save yourself a planet-sized headache.

Do you know a local builder with very good relationship with local Building Control? Doing the work yourself?

Lots to consider: insurance, rates, permissions, future property value, etc., etc. Is this a new or old property?

Have you consulted a structural engineer about the load-bearing wall?

As you might guess, I've a rather nifty t-shirt...

suzyq2909 wrote: »

Hi could someone give me some general advice about knocking down internal walls please?

1) Knocking down a non-load bearing bedroom wall which will make a 4-bed house a 3-bed house - who do I need to inform and what permission/approval would I need. Do I need to register that the house is now 3-bed (thinking of council tax possible?)

2) Knocking down a load-bearing wall to make kitchen open plan into the living room/diner - again what kind of approval would I need.

Apologies if this has been asked before, I did try searching beforehand. Thanks in advance.

Loobysaver

I've just had a load bearing wall removed as we knocked through our lounge and dining room.

We had to get building regs/control appoval. It cost us £130 and the buildier liaised with the buildig control officer about the size steel we needed. He came out once when the steel was in place and again when we had plastered. We then got a completion certificate which is essential if we ever sell the house in the future.

Hope this helps;)

suzyq2909

Wow, great help thanks Guys

To answer some questions:

We'll be using a local builder, highly recommended by a friend & we've been invited round to see the friend's house and the builders' own house both of which he's worked on.

The property is a 4-bed but the 4th is v small, not much more than a box room so we'd rather have a v large master & 2 good size spare rooms. There's only 2 of us so we don't need 4. Also, we've researched that it is relatively straight forward to put a wall back up & open up the doorway again if we decide to sell on.

We haven't consulted a structural engineer yet for the simple reason we haven't completed on the propety yet - due in a couple of weeks. We're just trying to get everything set up ready to go with all the relevant info we need.