john cunningham
Hi Pamela Get a builder to determine wether it is load bearing or not. He can do this by looking above the wall to se if it's carrying a wall above it, or look at the floorboards upstairs if they run parallel to the wall then the carrying floor joists will be held up by the wall and it will need an rsj ( girder or steel to you ) You can draw a simple sketch yourself to send in to the local planning council, but unfortunately you will have to get a structural engineer to work out what size beam you need. You can do this on line, search for steel beam calculations and they will ask you to fill in an information sheet. I think the fee will be about £130 Much cheaper than getting an architect involved.
