tall kitchen units fitting under dropped steel beams - help
Heather
5 years ago
Hello all,
I am tearing my hair out with this issue so would appreciate some advice. Below is quick sketch of our planned ground floor extension showing sizes of steel beams we have had from the structural engineer. Originally we had the kitchen planned for area 1, we had a small living area in area 2 and then dining table in the middle, which worked well. However when we got back the buildings regs drawing we realised there would have to be a rather large (1.1m) expanse of engineering brick which would essentially be blocking a lot of garden view from the living area, which we don’t want. So I thought about moving the kitchen to area 2 and have the dining/living areas in area 1. However, now the steel beams are getting in the way of the tall units! Ideally we would like steel beams recessed into the ceiling, however I assume we will not know if this is possible until the ceiling joist direction is known, by which point the foundations/drainage will have been put in and we need to know where the kitchen is going in order to put the drainage in! I worked out from the sizes of the steel beams that if they are not recessed into the ceiling, there will be a drop of around 35-40cm from ceiling level once you take into account the depth of the steel beam and the double layer of plasterboard - and our ceilings are 2.4m which only leaves about 2m height for tall units and I cannot find any companies which make tall units which would fit in this height.
I also tried putting tall units against wall C however this also does not work as if e.g an integrated tall F/F is opened, the door will hit the vertical steel beam if it is dropped from the ceiling.
I would be grateful if anyone has any words of wisdom or been in a similar position!
I am tearing my hair out with this issue so would appreciate some advice. Below is quick sketch of our planned ground floor extension showing sizes of steel beams we have had from the structural engineer. Originally we had the kitchen planned for area 1, we had a small living area in area 2 and then dining table in the middle, which worked well. However when we got back the buildings regs drawing we realised there would have to be a rather large (1.1m) expanse of engineering brick which would essentially be blocking a lot of garden view from the living area, which we don’t want. So I thought about moving the kitchen to area 2 and have the dining/living areas in area 1. However, now the steel beams are getting in the way of the tall units! Ideally we would like steel beams recessed into the ceiling, however I assume we will not know if this is possible until the ceiling joist direction is known, by which point the foundations/drainage will have been put in and we need to know where the kitchen is going in order to put the drainage in! I worked out from the sizes of the steel beams that if they are not recessed into the ceiling, there will be a drop of around 35-40cm from ceiling level once you take into account the depth of the steel beam and the double layer of plasterboard - and our ceilings are 2.4m which only leaves about 2m height for tall units and I cannot find any companies which make tall units which would fit in this height.
I also tried putting tall units against wall C however this also does not work as if e.g an integrated tall F/F is opened, the door will hit the vertical steel beam if it is dropped from the ceiling.
I would be grateful if anyone has any words of wisdom or been in a similar position!
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Comments (11)
Daisy England
5 years ago
Jonathan
5 years agoPresumably the engineering bricks are to support the steels and so I wonder if you can replan based on their position. I wondered if there is a cost efficiency if you make the extension 1 square meter smaller (so no longer a rectangle) and therefore need less steel.
So this is possible one option
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5 years agoDaisy England
5 years ago
PROOnePlan
5 years agoHans Eriksson
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Victoria
5 years agoHeather
5 years ago
PROClarisford
5 years ago
webuser_141967853's ideas · More InfoHi Heather. We had a similar issue with a house extension we have recently completed. In order to get as much height as possible we exposed the existing steel beams, fire rated them using intumescent paint as an alternative to using plasterboard.
Heather thanked ClarisfordHeather
5 years ago
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