estimate for an RSJ/STEEL

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ACEparts_com

Original Poster:

3,724 posts

248 months

Sunday 2nd August 2009
quotequote all
Just a finger in the air to get an idea. We have a bungalow and want to put a 6m long door in. Being a bungalow it will only have to support the roof & one row of blocks above it. Any idea of cost(s)


mrmaggit

10,146 posts

255 months

Sunday 2nd August 2009
quotequote all
Structural Engineer, he'll tell you what spec. from that you can get a price.

The spec. will be width, height, section, weight in kg per metre.

He has insurance to cover him if he screws up, you or anybody else don't.

The spec will depend on span, roof covering material, area of country (exposure to winds etc).

ACEparts_com

Original Poster:

3,724 posts

248 months

Sunday 2nd August 2009
quotequote all
Any idea of an approx cost?

B17NNS

18,506 posts

254 months

Sunday 2nd August 2009
quotequote all
Exactly what mrmaggit says.

In terms of cost if just for budgeting reasons I'd have thought about £100 for the calcs and £200 for the beam. Building control will want to see the calcs and the design of the beam and also inspect the installation. £60 or £70 for this depending on where you are.

maser_spyder

6,356 posts

189 months

Sunday 2nd August 2009
quotequote all
We bought a 1.5m RSJ, can't remember the exact dimensions, but fairly hefty (around 8" I think?), price was about £30 plus VAT.

Given quite an element of the cost is the labour to cut, I guess double the size wouldn't necessarily be double the cost.

I know it's vague, but hope that helps!

eps

6,436 posts

276 months

Monday 3rd August 2009
quotequote all
It will also support some of the ceiling above as well...

Calcs sound simple, let me know if you want them done - would _only_ need some plans to work from.. Plus a bit of info about materials.

If you're putting sliding-folding doors in there would also be the load of the door itself to consider but that's fairly nominal in the grand scheme of things.

Just hope you've got enough room between the top of the door frame, ceiling joists or soffit to allow this to happen..

shirt

23,433 posts

208 months

Monday 3rd August 2009
quotequote all
the rsj will be negligible in comparison to the cost of the building work, £200ish as mentioned. if you were closer to me i could get you one for a tenner.

a decent builder will do the calcs, its not rocket science. the price will largely depend on what prep. work is involved, what you are trying to achieve, and what you need making good afterwards.

mrmaggit

10,146 posts

255 months

Monday 3rd August 2009
quotequote all
shirt said:
the rsj will be negligible in comparison to the cost of the building work, £200ish as mentioned. if you were closer to me i could get you one for a tenner.

a decent builder will do the calcs, its not rocket science. the price will largely depend on what prep. work is involved, what you are trying to achieve, and what you need making good afterwards.
I wouldn't trust 98% of our customers to be able to do the calcs for an RSJ, I know I can't, but there you go. Most of them can't do "U" value calcs and they're easy.

Nuisance_Value

721 posts

260 months

Monday 3rd August 2009
quotequote all
shirt said:
if you were closer to me i could get you one for a tenner.
For a 6m rsj big enough to hold a roof up? I'll have a hundred of 'em mate!

shirt said:
a decent builder will do the calcs, its not rocket science. the price will largely depend on what prep. work is involved, what you are trying to achieve, and what you need making good afterwards.
No they won't, I wouldn't. It's all about insurance, that's why you get an engineer to do it because they have PI insurance. Also, it'll probably require building regs so the inspector will want to know who specified it.

You're right about the rest of the works though, that's what'll cost.

a boardman

1,316 posts

207 months

Monday 3rd August 2009
quotequote all
who ever does your calcs should limit the deflection if the sliding doors are supported from the lintel (and make sure you tell them), you dont want the lintel to deflect and cause problem with the doors opening.

shirt

23,433 posts

208 months

Tuesday 4th August 2009
quotequote all
Nuisance_Value said:
shirt said:
if you were closer to me i could get you one for a tenner.
For a 6m rsj big enough to hold a roof up? I'll have a hundred of 'em mate!
i pay less than scrap price. if i was allowed to capitalise on this i would have by now, trust me!


mk1fan

10,648 posts

232 months

Tuesday 4th August 2009
quotequote all
This WILL need Building Control approval. 6M is very long for an opening (domestically speaking). I agree that the cost of the beam will be rather small in terms of all the other works to install it.

To answer the cost question, it depends on the size of the beam as it'll be priced per kg or tonne. Don't know what your local rates would be. It isn't hard to find a local fabricators that can give you a kg or tonnage price.

Edited by mk1fan on Tuesday 4th August 12:41