Which professional do I need to review a supporting wall that's been fettled with?

Tim B · 2009-04-17T19:40:13+00:00

About five years ago I took a hammer and chisel to a supporting wall. The wall is the central column you tend to get in smallish semi detached houses between the front door and downstairs window (6m x 6m house, standard 70s build i.e. bricks, textured render, tiled roof). Essentially there used to be a glass partition running from the front door to create a hallway. So this column between the window and door had a right angle that came into the house and a door hanging off it. In my enthusiasm I knocked out the glass partition and the part of the column/wall that came into the house.What remains is a bloody small column. Previously it used to be one breeze block length x one breeze block width and came into the living room by the same amount. Now it's just one breeze block length x one breeze block width. Unfortunately I only realised what I'd done after I stood back and admired my handy work (about 30 seconds from "job well done" to "f**k"). This isn't really helped by the fact most of the front of the house is a massive window and double door frame. So this internal roof bearing column is supporting pretty much three quarters the width of the roof on my side of the house (approx 4m).Anyway, it's five years later and a couple of earth quakes have been and gone. The column still stands, the house is still here. Nothing has bowed or cracked. But it bugs me every time I look at it. So I have a couple of questions:- Anybody know the minimum width of an internal wall that bears the weight of the roof? A builder quoting on another job had a quick look. Stated that it looked small, but measures approx 5cm larger that the minimum column width.- Who do I need to contact to get this thing checked out and suggested corrective action if required? Surveyor? Building engineer? Building regs?Thanks for any tips.Tim B

Apr 17, 2009 21 Replies

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Andrew Gabriel 17 years ago

Corbelling effect.

If you imagine pulling a lintel out of a wall, e.g. from over a door, the wall doesn't collapse vertically above all the way to the top of the building. It's just a triangle of bricks over the door which fall out. The rest are supported by transfering their weight to the wall either side of the door.

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