Structural calculations in Ealing

Semi-detached Ealing and the party wall

Half of Ealing's 133,659 households live in a house or bungalow, at 50.3 per cent, and 46.2 per cent own their home. A semi-detached or terraced house often has a chimney breast between rooms and a party wall to the neighbour.

Those two features decide a surprising number of calculations. A chimney breast removal needs the stack above supported. A beam that bears on a party wall needs a padstone that spreads its load, and may need a party wall notice. We record both on the layout and point you to our party wall notices service where the work is near the boundary.

Where a loft is added on top, the first-floor structure and the walls beneath it also have to be checked, since they now carry a room instead of a roof.

Basements and the Ealing extensions SPD

Ealing's planning guidance for house extensions is SPD 4 - Residential extensions. Its section on basements says that excavating or enlarging one needs Building Regulations approval, and that if planning permission is granted the council will require a method statement covering structural and construction matters: method statement on structural and construction matters if permitted.

The SPD is old and may be superseded, so we treat it as indicative and confirm the position at application stage. For a basement we advise starting with the ground and the neighbours, since a structural calculation for the house above is only one part of the evidence.

Conservation areas and decisions in Ealing

Ealing has 31 conservation areas and 309 listed entries. Structural work does not need planning in itself, but if the alteration is visible, or the building is protected, the structural proposal and the planning drawings have to agree.

In its latest year the council decided 946 householder applications, granting 87.2 per cent, with 95.3 per cent decided in time. That is a general guide to how the council works, not a forecast for your house.

What Ealing owners pay us and receive

Structural calculations start at £295 including VAT, fixed after the constraints check. You receive the calculations, a beam and padstone schedule and a layout drawing, normally about a week after the survey. A second technologist checks the set, and we revise at no charge if the council asks for changes.

Before pricing a job we ask for photographs of the wall, the rooms either side and the floor above, and the approximate span. From those we can usually say whether the opening is simple or needs the heavier treatment, and whether a survey visit will change the answer. The visit then settles the detail at the bearings.

If you also need an application, our planning drawings in Ealing carry the same structural intent, and the building regulations drawings in Ealing turn the calculations into the construction set.

More for Ealing owners

For the full picture of the borough, see architectural drawings in Ealing, and for the service in general, our structural calculations page. A neighbouring approach is shown by structural calculations in Harrow.