Cost to knock down walls

jimjam83

Hello - first time poster, be gentle!!

We are in the process of buying our first home (offer accepted, mortgage offer granted, conveyancing started, building survey booked). It’s a Victorian terrace and needs a bit of modernisation. We would like to knock the corner wall between the kitchen and dining room but have no idea how much this would cost...I’m hoping some people have done this before and can give me an estimate. 

I’ve attached images of the plan and the wall area I’m talking about. 

Looking forward to any feedback!!

tweet86

It completely depends. I’m guessing it’s a supporting wall so it would need steelworks which are meant to be more expensive than usual. I would say 5k but I’m going off an extension I had a few years ago. Maybe more. It’s also going to need building regs which is about £600

FreeBear

tweet86 said: I’m guessing it’s a supporting wall so it would need steelworks which are meant to be more expensive than usual.

Looking at the floor plan & photos, it would appear that there has been a modest extension to accommodate the double doors. I'd suspect that there is a steel in there. To knock down the corner wall would remove the support for this beam, necessitating a new steel spanning the full width of the house (large & very expensive). If the wall for the cupboard under the stairs is suitable, it may be possible that it could support the new beam - A structural engineer will have to be consulted before doing any work (more £££).

iampetesmith

You'd need a builder to come and have a look really to give you a quote, unless there's one on here who can tell enough from the photos.

My parents have just had a quote for 2k to knock down a 1.3m section of wall between the kitchen and utility to open it into one space, but it all depends on the house and it's structure.

Alter_ego

You need to check the actual thickness of the wall shown on the plans. the original back wall supported the upper floor. Something replaced it on the ground floor.

FreeBear

iampetesmith said: You'd need a builder to come and have a look really to give you a quote,

And if they say "you don't need building reg sign off", kick them out of the door had and fast - Any structural change requires compliance with building regulations. Failure to do so could result in the home owner being prosecuted and add to complications when it come to selling.

daivid

The steel won't neccesarily have to go where the wall was, it is possible that it could go across the kitchen to the external wall of the double doors in the lounge. This would be a shorter and therefore cheaper beam, however only the engineer wil be able to tell you. I've never had to pay for structural calculations but in previous threads on here people have mentioned around £500 for a visit and calculations. I would not go down the builder route for planning, you will presumably want one to do the install though. As already alluded to some builders have little regard for building regs, most (anecdotally I admit) seem to work in a few standard sizes of beams that are often much stronger than needed- not a terrible thing, but a good engineer will be able to recomend the right size beam which may well be smaller and therefore less intrusive on the room (and cheaper, though on the total cost of work the difference will be pretty minor).

thearchitect

It'll be somewhere in the range £600-1,000 for a Chartered structural or civil engineer to survey, do the calc, and so on.  BUT after the survey he or she will be able to tell you how realistic the work is going to be, so you don't need to spend the lot if it's a no-go.