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Old March 10th 2011, 13:08
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evilC evilC is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: UK Where Leics is more
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Hi Rich,

The timber beam will not span the full width and take the pitched roof load. As Bruce said you will need a steel beam. I guess that the overall width would be ~4.5m (15ft). You do need an engineer to calc the beam(s) but to give you an idea mine over the same span were a pair of 230x90PFC back to back but that was to carry some cavity brickwork above. You don't have to consult Building Control as technically the structure is not a habitable space and the regs only apply to that. (It's not a workshops is it!?) (winks) The bearing at each end will be OK in a minimum of 2 courses of blue engineering brickwork.
I wouldn't use a roller shutter as the shutter box will be around 400mm dia that will compromise headroom. I would use an industrial sectional overhead door that will be insulated, look good and more importantly be QUIET (roller shutters are noisy in the wind). If you need an engineer for the beam calc PM me and I will send you a contact. He will be able to spec something remotely (he does it all the time for me).
Getting rid of the central pillar will be worthwhile and the only reason you've got two doors is that the house builder was looking after the pennies and sod the occupier.
As an aside, I hope the compressor was not solely supported on the 1/2B wall and that you've got legs down to the floor? The vibration will damage the wall over time especially if its the sole structure.
Are you still in Leamington?

Clive
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