Load bearing wall - options?

'evening all,

I'm in the process of renovating a 70's place in Adelaide, and would dearly love to remove this wall (or at least part of it) to open up some space between the kitchen and the dining room. From much reading on this forum (in particular, Bloss' posts, thanks!) I've now determined that this wall is a load bearing wall due to the cut roof design, and will need to be treated very gingerly. So ... I thought I'd throw up a few pictures of it, and see if anyone has any ideas on what can be done with it? Which will also lead onto my next question ... does anyone know any good structural engineers in Adelaide? :;

I like to have a go at most works myself, as I seem to have plenty of time, patience and a developing level of skill (but often, not a lot of cash). So, if I can get an engineer to design (?) a solution then I'll happily install it and get it certified by him, and also run it through council etc. I want to follow all the correct channels,as I don't want to be bitten in the ar5e at a later date when going to sell the place etc.

Pictures are below. The first two show what I'm trying to acheive, and the next few are shots of what is going on up above. I've tried to draw in relation points between the two shots, and you can see other parrallels such as the location of the exhaust fan etc.

My initial response is to remove the beam that the strut is currently sitting on, and replace it with a longer one that sits over the external wall (beyond the exhaust fan). Does this sound like the most simple solution? And the most likely to get engineering / council approval?

Scary thing is ... the previous owner had a builder come in and quote to remove the whole wall for $600 or so (including plaster patch-up etc), claiming that it wasn't a structural wall and should be an easy job. I beg to differ ... you can clearly see that the beam that the strut is sitting on is sitting on the mortar of the wall below. Without that wall there, well, I can only imagine that the strut would fall straight through ... with most of the roof tiles soon after.

Attached Thumbnails http://www.renovateforum.com/attachm...s-img_0865.jpg http://www.renovateforum.com/attachm...s-img_0866.jpg http://www.renovateforum.com/attachm...s-img_0868.jpg http://www.renovateforum.com/attachm...s-img_0871.jpg http://www.renovateforum.com/attachm...s-img_0873.jpg

http://www.renovateforum.com/attachm...s-img_0874.jpg



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