Can you (would you) DIY an RSJ installation?

stuart45

Looking at the plans again, it looks like the wall to come out is 9 inch brickwork, and the wall above is 4 inch  which I would guess is offset to line up with one face of the wall below.

ChasingtheWelshdream

stuart45 said:

When you say the wall above is offset, what is it sitting on? Do you know the construction and thickness of the wall above?

Solid 9 inch brick for both walls, the one above is parallel but about 40cm away.

The joists are parallel so I’m not sure what they are sitting on, I’ll have to read through everything the check.

If the builder comes back with a definite, nearish  place in the queue for us, we’re happy to wait. But we get the impression he has either forgotten us or may not actually be that fussed about the job. I accept it’s small fry compared to extensions etc. So I’m just tentatively looking at alternatives so we can carry on

stuart45

40cm is quite a long way off, meaning the wall above is not sitting on that wall. 40mm  would be OK with a 9 inch wall, as you could overhang the header course by that much.

ChasingtheWelshdream

stuart45 said:

Looking at the plans again, it looks like the wall to come out is 9 inch brickwork, and the wall above is 4 inch  which I would guess is offset to line up with one face of the wall below.

Sorry  you’re right, it is 4 inch above.  The ground floor wall is actually beneath a corridor above, and in between the two walls that form it. The corridor is made of two walls, one a stud/lathe & plaster, the other is brick.  

We have asked the engineer why both walls are not on the plans and are awaiting an amended drawing, but he says the calculation remains the same.

We had always assumed the brick wall was continuous upwards, but apparently not. 

It’s quite interesting finding out how everything is constructed :-)

stuart45

It sounds like the 2 walls above are sitting on the floorboards, which is quite common in older properties. Even in the 70's I've built upper floor partition walls in 3 inch blockwork on sole plates on top of the timber floors. 
If nothing is actually sitting on the 9 inch wall, what is the UC actually doing?  Is there going to be noggings coming out from it to catch some of the joists?

ChasingtheWelshdream

See now I need to go and lift floorboards and look at everything again 😆

The house is Edwardian, and we’re still uncovering things, we discovered there was an original pantry at some point, although the walls are long gone, and other random walls forming strange cupboards and corridors that may, or may not be original. It’s fascinating.

phoebe1989seb

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

Phoebe, we’re mid-Wales, pretty much slap bang in the middle. Your Welsh house sounds lovely!

Ah, I was going to suggest that if you were anywhere near us my DH could come over and give you a hand, but we're a couple of miles south west of Llandeilo so probably a bit far......

But if what other posters have said is correct perhaps you will be able to do it between you. I guess ours were considerably longer/heavier as - although I willingly do most labouring tasks, lol - I wouldn't have been any use with lifting our RSJs to ceiling height 😐

Mickey666

phoebe1989seb said:

ChasingtheWelshdream said:

Thanks, that’s definitely encouraging. 

It looks like the lifting will be the main issue as we don’t really know anyone who could help, and all our neighbours are elderly. It would just be me and DH. 

How heavy are we talking? 

Pretty heavy if we're talking RSJ, not catnic. 

Whereabouts are you, Chasing?

You're right - an RSJ is a LOT heavier than a catnic.  The 8-inch one I used needed three people to get into place, but it was massively over engineered.  I only used it because it was laying around.  A suitable catnic lintel would probably have been a one man job and a very easy two-person job.

Likewise the 3m 10x10-inch oak bressumer - it took three people to get it into place.

knightstyle

We did a few whilst renovating our old house. Very easy with friends to help lift. Make sure you are organised for access and the pads have had time to go hard.
Do not cover in till building control have had a look, we had to expose a part of one for them to check.

ChasingtheWelshdream

Thanks so much for all your comments, they’ve been really helpful and given lots to think about. 

And Phoebe, what a lovely gesture, but we’re a good hour away from Llandeilo 🙂