How would you support...

[Rgee184]

We are in the early stages of deciding what we want to get from an extension on the rear of our 1950s semi. The existing house has a kitchen and dining room across the back of the house divided by a supporting wall.
I have found it difficult to find much info on the topic although I’ve seen some pictures where others have done the same.
Is it possible/sensible to remove the back wall of the house into an extension AND remove the wall dividing the kitchen and diner?
Would the supporting beams needed to support this end up being so large that it’s better to avoid this?

 

[cdbe]

We have done this, back wall out (6m) and the 4m perpendicular internal kitchen/dining room wall out. We did keep a small section of rear wall as a central "pillar" which reduced the long span (this was purely a personal choice; we'll be having a wood burner and steel flue boxing in adjacent to the pier, and from my (the single handed builders) point it simplified the propping and size of steels needed.

My SE said (should I not have wanted the pillar) that a full span steel would not have been a problem - (and it would also have had to pick up another pair of incoming beams supporting the first floor of the new extension).

I believe the depth issue can be addressed by using Universal Columns, which are squarer than the taller Universal Beams but if you're not extending upstairs (I was) you can hide the depth of the steel in the height of the upstairs wall if you don't want much/any downstand.

 

[^woody^]

The beam size is a matter of structural design, the position of the beam is more a matter of good design from the plan monkey.