Making a kitchen diner

Many households cook in one room and eat in the next. Joining the two gives one shared space for cooking, eating and being together. Opening up the wall between them is a common way to do it. This page walks through how to plan the work in England, so the new room is sound, safe and signed off.

Usually no planning application

You should not normally need planning permission to remove an internal wall. Refitting a kitchen does not usually need a planning application either, unless it is part of an extension.

Listed buildings are different. If your home is listed, you will need listed building consent for any significant work, inside or out.

Finding out what the wall does

A load-bearing wall supports other parts of the house. It may carry ceiling joists from the loft, a wall standing directly above it, or the ends of floor joists. Sometimes it carries a beam that was put in when a chimney breast was taken out lower down.

A structural engineer or surveyor can tell you whether a wall is load-bearing. They can also design a beam to carry the load once the wall has gone. The beam itself must be properly supported, so that the load still reaches the foundations.

Getting the work signed off

Building regulations normally apply when you remove an internal wall or make an opening in one. You can apply to your local council's building control team or to a private registered building control approver.

A full plans application is the most thorough route. You will usually get a completion certificate within 8 weeks of finishing, as long as the work complies. A building notice is for smaller projects, and work can start two days after it goes in. Without approval you will not have the certificates you may need when you sell your home.

Keeping a clear way out

The walls around a staircase help hold back fire and smoke. They protect the way down from the bedrooms. Taking one away can change how people escape from a fire.

In a two-storey house the loss of a wall can often be made up for. The usual answer is mains-powered smoke alarms that are linked together, with escape windows in the rooms off the stairs. In a house of three storeys or more, that may not be enough. The features needed vary from house to house.

Fresh air in the new room

A kitchen needs a way to get rid of steam and cooking smells. If you are refitting a kitchen that already has extract ventilation, you must keep it or replace it. A brand new kitchen in a room that never had one should have extract ventilation.

The guidance also asks for background ventilation, such as trickle vents in the window frames. For a kitchen in a house with more than one floor, that means an equivalent area of at least 8,000 square millimetres.

Before work starts

Anyone paid to work on gas appliances in a home must be on the Gas Safe Register. Moving a gas hob is work on a gas appliance. The back of an engineer's Gas Safe ID card shows the kinds of gas work they are qualified to do.

Asbestos may be found in any home built or refurbished before the year 2000. If you know of asbestos materials, tell your builder before work starts. Some types should only be removed by a contractor licensed by the Health and Safety Executive.

In a terraced or semi-detached house, the new beam may be set into the wall you share with a neighbour. That means cutting into a party wall. In England and Wales, that is work you must tell your neighbour about. They cannot stop lawful work, but they can affect how and when it is done.

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