Many homeowners wonder why they would need a structural engineer for a house extension or major internal renovation. In most cases, you may be able to save yourself some money by planning out your building project yourself and then bring in a structural engineer to look over your plans and do the structural calculations for you.
In a lot of cases, people will hire an architect to work out a plan for them, but quite often the architect will bring in a structural engineer to do all the structural calculations for the project.
It is not a choice between using either an architect or a structural engineer but is often a case of using both, especially with a major project such as a very large or complicated home extension, loft conversion or basement extension.
The role of a structural engineer with your extension
Once instructed, one of our structural engineer team members will look at the viability of your extension plan and assess the strength and integrity of your property, surrounding groundwork and local vegetation which may adverse effect on the future foundation layout. We will calculate for you all the essential types of supporting members and translate it into a comprehensive drawing output.
Depending on whether you are bringing in a local building contractor to perform your work or if you are self-building for the most part, it makes sense to bring us on board to work out size of the critical load bearing elements to ensure that your home extension goes ahead smoothly and everyone involved in the project is working to correct specifications.
Calculating minimum size of building foundations
One of the most important elements of building a home extension is making sure that the building foundations are suitable for supporting and bearing the added weight of the brickwork.
This is especially important if you are planning to do a first-floor extension above existing that builds out above an existing garage attached to your home. In a lot of cases, the original foundations for the garage will only be fit for supporting the weight of the garage and not the added weight of a full extension.
In this case, we will instruct you or your builder to dig out a trial pit to help clarify what the minimum width and depth of the existing foundations, and if required, specify sequential underpinning to prevent any subsidence movement.
When should you bring in GL Design Services?
If you are planning to perform any home improvements that could affect the structural integrity of your home, such as building either a ground floor or first-floor extension, then it is almost certain that you will need our structural engineering services.
We can do all structural calculations you need for modifying your existing doors and windows to accommodate your new extension access point, knocking out walls or removing a chimney breast that may be in the way of your planned extension.
No matter whether you are having an architect to draw up your layouts or want to create them yourself, you will need to bring us in to provide you with the essential set of structural calculations and relevant drawing output.
You will need our drawings and calculations to obtain Building Control approval so that builder can price and execute the works on site.
Why not get in touch with us today to discuss your building extension plans. We are here to help!
Use a structural engineer for your own safety
With many homeowners wanting to save money on building an extension by doing as much of the building work themselves, it makes sense to bring in one of our structural engineers from GL Design Services to help make sure your home extension project will be safe.
If this is your first attempt at building work outside of simple DIY home maintenance, it can feel a little overwhelming to have the weight of designing and planning your extension sitting on your shoulders.
While you may have plenty of friends or family members willing to give you a hand with the heavy work, unless any of them are fully qualified and experienced construction workers, you may be putting the structural integrity of your home at risk.
Creating a structurally secure design
Don’t leave anything to chance. Bring in GL Design Services to help with your home extension plans. You can give us an idea of your tastes and the aspirations for your extension. We will then be able to inspect your home and check for weight-bearing walls that will need special structural treatment if you plan to remove them.
With our help, you will have a comprehensive structural drawings to follow and can move forward confident that your home improvement works will be safe for your family. We can do all the structural calculations for you so you will be able to properly budget for and buy the right building materials for the job.