General advice and opinion for possible project.

[Helicopter_red]

Hi I have planned a new layout and am hoping to “Remodel” my home. 
I want to gauge opinion and advice, regarding if this is possible before I pay a structural engineer, in case he tell me it isn’t after paying for the work. 
The first stage is ground floor this will determine the options for upstairs, I.e. if downstairs is practical or achievable. 
 

various pictures of different bits I hope it makes some sense and the pictures stay in the correct location, sorry this is all done from my phone. 


original house as built, sorry poor photocopy from council nothing else exists

 

 

Work already carried out kitchen window shortened old back door bricked up and new door cut out next to shortened window all with council approval. 

 

below in blue is where new walls are planned to go shifting living room to front of house, closing up some of the French doors in original living room now to be kitchen diner and also removing modified kitchen door and extending wall length slightly, approximately to the centre of where the new back door is now. Kitchen window to stay the same

 

 

Below in red, are the parts of walls to be removed

 

Below in green are where I believe I will need to add beams/rsj to take floor weight above and possibly to stiffen lateral external wall movement. 
Also not added to below picture but an external wall beam slightly of central on external wall to allow for an opening approximately 3m wide ( in between the blue parts that are either side of the green drawn added beams)

 

 

 

 

My main questions are 

would I need to remove the old lintels above original  French doors and new kitchen door and add lintel or can they be cut back leaving sufficient bearing surface and fitting new External rsj/lintel.  I’m a bit mindful of the amount of lintels in that span which could be an issue with structural movement. 
 

second question with the removal of the two walls that but/bond to the external wall how do I beef this up to prevent lateral movement would a pier be sufficient to stop this or would added beams/rsj’s over the removed internal walls be sufficient to strengthen up? (my terminology of a pier is a pillar bonded to the brickwork at both sides of the opening, apologies if that’s the wrong word)

I will need some across to support floor above anyway. 

 

I do intend to get a structural engineer  to work it out, but I want to know if it’s feasible before paying one to do some calculations for this. 

If this is all feasible and worth the stress, upstairs will be moved about to equal room space up a bit, but there are two versions of this depending on the downstairs modifications or if nothing changes downstairs. 
Upstairs is all stud wall and the roof is a trussed type so I believe nothing is load bearing upstairs. 
 

Thoughts and advice very much appreciated. 
 

cheers

 

 

 

[George]

Short answer is anything is possible, but the costs go up as it becomes more complicated.

 

Seems like a lot of alteration for no increase in floor area!

[ETC]

As George says anything is possible if you have the budget. Don’t forget that moving the kitchen will also have implications for services and drainage. 

[Helicopter_red]

Thanks for the replies!

Its good to know the initial response is positive.

 

If anybody could give me some ideas on RSJ's/Beams in the kitchen to support the floor above and the external wall, that would be fantastic!

Could i position the external Lintel in such a way that the beams/joist/RSJ's could sit on the inner part of the External RSJ/Lintel, giving a flush ceiling?

I'm not familiar with what Lintel/RSJ arrangements are possible.

 

Cheers 

[ETC]

Go and speak to an engineer.