The Kitchen is located on the back end of the house with two out houses located on either side of the back door. The plan is to demolish a wall that connects to a living room in order to open up the kitchen and allow for an open plan. The brick wall will be taken down and replaced by a steel beam that will rest on the existing and remaining brick wall. 

The first step is to stabilise the upper floor using acrow props and wood. Acrow props are steel vertical supports that stabilise overhead loads. The wood is placed along the length of the ceiling on either side of the wall that is to be demolished. Three acrows are then positioned and propped up to support the middle and ends of the wood. This is done so that the load is transferred to a larger area, meaning there are no pinch points where the load is too great to be held up.

Space is cleared to make way for the steel beam. The beam is placed on padstones that rest on the brick. Padstones take the concentrated load from the steel beam and disperses it across the rest of the bricks. 

With the steel beam in place the kitchen is opened to the adjacent living space.

Safesite Facilities. 2022. A Complete Guide to Acrow Props – SafeSite Facilities. [online] Available at: <https://www.safesitefacilities.co.uk/knowledge-base/a-complete-guide-to-acrow-props> [Accessed 14 April 2022].

Moat, H., 2022. Acrow props. [image].

Moat, H., 2022. wall clearing in ceiling. [image].

Vidgen, D., 2022. Removal of weight bearing wall to form open plan kitchen (West Heath) – Local Builder in Birmingham. [online] Local Builder in Birmingham. Available at: <http://www.davidvidgen.com/removal-of-weight-bearing-wall-to-form-open-plan-kitchen-west-heath/> [Accessed 10 April 2022].