Taking out a load-bearing wall is one of the most common jobs I see, and one of the easiest to get wrong. Most builders do it properly. The questions below help you tell, before any work starts, whether the job has been planned the way it should be. Ask them, and ask for the answers in writing.
This is general guidance for homes in England. It is not advice on your home: I have not seen your property, and every house is different.
Key Takeaways
- A load-bearing wall carries weight from above. Taking it out needs a beam designed for that weight, and temporary support while the work is done.
- The beam, its bearings, and any padstones should come from a structural engineer’s calculations and drawings, not from guesswork on the day.
- The work normally has to go through Building Control, which inspects it and signs it off at the end.
- A good builder will be happy to answer these questions. Vague answers, or “we always do it this way”, are worth probing.
- If anything on site does not match the drawings, work should stop until the engineer has been asked.
The 10 questions
1. Who designed the beam, and can I see the calculations and drawings?
Ask to see the engineer’s calculations and drawings, and check that they carry your address and the engineer’s name. The beam, the padstones or other bearings it sits on, and the walls below should all be checked by calculation. An engineer registered with the Engineering Council, such as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) or an Incorporated Engineer (IEng), and a member of a professional institution such as the Institution of Structural Engineers or the Institution of Civil Engineers, is a good sign. A beam size chosen “from experience” or from a general table is not the same thing. Ask, too, what the calculations assume the wall is carrying, and whether anyone has checked that against what is actually above it: floor joists, another wall, a water tank, or roof timbers resting on it. A calculation is only as good as the information behind it. A wall can also be bracing an outside wall, and the engineer should have considered that too.
2. Has Building Control been told, and who is arranging the inspections?
Removing a load-bearing wall is building work under the Building Regulations, so it normally has to go through Building Control, either your council’s team or a registered building control approver. This has to happen before work starts. Ask whether an application or notice has gone in, who is arranging the inspections, and at what stages they will happen. Building Control usually wants to see the beam and its bearings before they are covered up. At the end, you should receive a completion certificate (or a final certificate from a private approver). Keep it: a buyer’s solicitor is likely to ask for it when you sell.
3. How will you support the structure while the wall comes out?
Before any of the wall is removed, the floor, wall, or roof above has to be held up by temporary supports. These are usually adjustable steel props, with steel needles through the masonry where there is a wall above the opening, or timber spreaders under the joists where there is not. Planning this is the builder’s responsibility. Beam calculations do not usually cover it unless an engineer has been asked to design it, so ask who has worked out how many props are needed, where they go, and what they will stand on. If the props stand on a timber floor, or above a cellar, the load has to be carried on down, with more props underneath, until it reaches solid ground. Ask in what order the work will be done, and when the props will come out: not until the new beam is in, the gap above it has been packed tight, and the packing has set (see question 6). A builder who plans to “knock it out and see” is a warning sign.
4. Are there any pipes, cables, or flues in the wall, and who will deal with them?
Walls often hide electrical cables, water pipes, gas pipes, or an old flue from a fire or boiler. They need to be found and dealt with before demolition. Gas pipework should be moved by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Electrical work has to meet Part P of the Building Regulations, and a registered electrician can certify it.
5. Will the beam that arrives match the drawings?
Ask what size and grade of steel the engineer has specified, and check that what is delivered matches. If the builder wants to use a different beam, for example because it is easier to get, that is a question for the engineer, not a decision for site.
6. What will the ends of the beam sit on?
The ends of the beam carry concentrated loads down into the walls. The engineer’s drawings should show how much bearing is needed at each end, and whether padstones are needed and what they are made of. Ask how the builder will make sure each end of the beam, or its padstone, sits on sound masonry, and what is under each end, all the way down: a doorway, a cellar opening, or an old flue below a bearing can change the design. In older stone houses the walls are often two faces of stone with rubble between them, so what the beam will actually rest on may only be seen once the wall is opened up. Finally, ask how the gap between the top of the beam and the wall above will be packed tight, usually with a stiff mortar rammed into the gap (called dry-packing), so that the wall above rests on the beam rather than dropping onto it when the props come out.
7. How will the steel be protected from fire?
A steel beam usually needs protecting from fire, for example boxed in with suitable fire-rated plasterboard or given a fire-protective coating. Ask what Building Control has asked for and how it will be done. A beam left exposed as a feature may still need protecting.
8. Is any of the work on a party wall?
If the beam will bear into a wall you share with a neighbour, or the work affects it in other ways, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 will usually mean you must serve notice on every owner of the house next door (which may include a landlord, not just whoever lives there) before the work starts. Serving notice is the homeowner’s responsibility, not the builder’s, though a good builder will flag it. A party wall surveyor can advise you on what is needed.
9. What happens if you find something unexpected?
Opening up a wall sometimes reveals things nobody could see beforehand: a hidden flue, a beam already in the wall, rotten timber, or masonry that is weaker than expected. Ask what the builder will do. The right answer is to make it safe, stop, and ask the engineer before carrying on, not to improvise. In homes built or refurbished before 2000, ask too how they will deal with any materials that might contain asbestos. If there is any doubt, a qualified asbestos surveyor should check it, and take samples if needed, before the wall is disturbed.
10. What exactly is in your price?
Ask for a written, itemised quote. Check whether it includes the temporary propping, the steel and padstones, making good the plaster and decoration, fire protection, skip hire, and Building Control and engineer’s fees, or whether some of these are separate. Ask whether the price includes VAT: some builders charge it and some are not VAT-registered. Ask to see the builder’s public liability insurance certificate, and check that it is in date.
If the answers do not reassure you
You do not have to be an expert to ask these questions. A builder who shows you calculations and drawings for your house, explains the propping, and knows when Building Control will visit is showing you a job that has been planned. That is encouraging, but it is not a guarantee of how the work will be done, which is one reason Building Control’s inspections matter. If the answers are vague, or you are told none of this is needed, ask a structural engineer before any work starts.
When it cannot wait
If, during or after the work, you see a beam or ceiling sagging, new cracks opening above the opening, or masonry crumbling where the beam sits, keep people away from the area, stop any work, and do not try to prop or repair it yourself. Do not take out any props that are already in place. If collapse looks imminent or anyone is hurt, call 999. If anything could fall onto a road or path, contact your council’s Building Control dangerous structures service. Then get a structural engineer to look as soon as you can, and if a builder is working on the house, ask them to put in temporary support through their engineer straight away. If you smell gas, leave the building and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
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I am a Chartered Structural Engineer (CEng, MIStructE) based in Huddersfield. The Beam Doctor offers homeowners and builders:
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- On-site attendance — a Chartered Engineer at your property, tiered by duration. A brief verbal summary on site, then site visit notes within 2 working days: photographs, annotated sketches, and anything still needed for the design. The notes are a record of the visit, not a report. See site visit fees →
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