Steel for Large Openings & Bi-Fold Doors
Span a wide opening for bi-fold or sliding doors across the back of the house, with a steel beam, and posts where needed, sized by your engineer. We detail, fabricate and install to your engineer's design, to BS EN 1090 Execution Class 2 and UKCA marked.
Opening the back of the house up.
Opening up the back of a house for bi-fold or sliding doors means taking out a big stretch of load-bearing wall, and the wider the opening the more steel it takes to carry the floors and wall above. That is usually a single deep beam spanning the opening, or a beam on steel posts where there is no wall left to bear onto. Your structural engineer sizes the steel from the span and the loads; we produce the fabrication drawings and make it in our own workshop to BS EN 1090 Execution Class 2. Our own team props the wall, sets the beam and any posts, and hands over the paperwork for building control.
The beam - and posts - that carry a wide opening.
Steel for bi-fold, sliding-door and bay openings, sized by your engineer and fitted by our own team.
Working to your engineer's design
Your structural engineer sizes the beam, and any posts, for the width of opening you want. If you have not got one, we can point you in the right direction.
The spanning beam
We make the deep universal beam that carries the floor and wall above across the opening, with padstones or bearings at each end.
Posts where the wall runs out
Where there is no return wall to bear onto, the beam sits on steel posts, forming a frame around the opening.
Propping and fitting
Our own team props the opening, lifts the beam and posts in, and ties the frame together so it carries cleanly.
Paperwork for building control
You get the drawings, weld records and declaration of performance, ready for the opening to be inspected and signed off.
A wall of glass needs steel across the top of it.
The wider you open the back of a house, the more the beam over it has to carry, so wide-opening steel is sized and made with care. We fabricate the beam and any posts to your engineer's design under BS EN 1090 Execution Class 2 and fit them with our own team, with the drawings and declaration of performance for building control.
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Project & sample images.
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Why wide openings are a steel job first.
The bigger the opening, the more the beam over it carries, so it is made to the calculations and fitted properly.
About UIS-
01
Made for the span
Wide openings need deeper steel, and we fabricate the beam your structural engineer specifies for the span and the loads above.
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02
Beam and posts as a frame
Where the opening leaves no wall to bear onto, we make the beam and posts as a frame, so the whole opening is carried.
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03
BS EN 1090 Execution Class 2, UKCA marked
Fabricated to the execution class domestic structural steel is specified against, with the declaration of performance supplied.
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04
Fitted by our own team
The team that makes the steel fits it, so the beam and posts go in as drawn, ready for the doors to follow.
"I've worked with UIS for several years on some high profile and very complex projects. Their attitude and work ethic are second to none - providing high quality services and products which are delivered safely and on time every time. Overall they are a pleasure to do business with and wouldn't hesitate recommending UIS for any steelwork or metalwork packages."
Questions clients ask us.
As wide as your structural engineer designs for. Wider openings need deeper beams, and sometimes steel posts at the ends where there is no wall to bear onto. We fabricate and fit whatever the calculations call for.
If the opening removes the wall the beam would normally bear onto, yes, the beam sits on posts to form a frame. Your engineer confirms whether posts are needed, and we make them with the beam.
Wide-span beams are deeper, so there may be a downstand above the doors. Your engineer can sometimes raise the beam flush into the floor above instead. We fabricate to whichever the design specifies.
We fit the structural steel that carries the opening. The doors themselves are supplied and fitted by your door installer or builder, once the steel is in and the opening is formed.
We are based in South Yorkshire and fabricate and install across the UK with our own teams.
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