Highrise condo reno---need help!

[monicapharm]

I bought a highrise condo that has old gallery style kitchen. We are thinking of knock down park of the wall (partially contains weight baring wall), but wondering if that involves lot of paper work. We asked the property manager, and her response is that we need a letter from a professional engineering company saying that our plan is feasible and will not disturb the structure of the building. Has anyone done this? Appreciate if you can share your experience.

[Jucius Maximus]

We asked the property manager, and her response is that we need a letter from a professional engineering company saying that our plan is feasible and will not disturb the structure of the building. Has anyone done this? Appreciate if you can share your experience.

Most likely this would be required under the condo by-laws.

[BuildingHomes]

but wondering if that involves lot of paper work. We asked the property manager, and her response is that we need a letter from a professional engineering company

If you are going to modify a load bearing wall, in any dwelling, you do need plans for what you want to do approved by a currently licensed Professional Engineer.

Is that a lot of paperwork? Perhaps, but there will also be a cost associated with it to have the plans done and stamped by the P.Eng.

You will also need someone to do the work for you, such as a general contractor. This is usually where you will want to start, and they can advise you on what needs to be done.

I would probably recommend avoiding a plan that requires adjusting anything to do with the load bearing walls.

[juneplum888]

I am also renovating my condo unit and am asking my contractor to turn a wall in my kitchen into a half-wall so it opens up the space. With my wall, yes, I did have to get approval from my property management / condo board. My contractor doesn't think my wall is load bearing but told me that he won't know for sure that it is / isn't load-bearing until he opens up the wall. So a compromise is that if it is load bearing, then we're going to leave a pillar ... you might want to consider that .. ?

Its been alot of headache dealing with the rules of my condo -- I don't think I would ever go through this process again ....

[monicapharm]

Thanks guys for all your input. We may not do this work right away, but definitely down the road.

Is that a lot of paperwork? Perhaps, but there will also be a cost associated with it to have the plans done and stamped by the P.Eng.
----So how much are we talking about here just to get the P.Eng's stamp.You will also need someone to do the work for you, such as a general contractor. This is usually where you will want to start, and they can advise you on what needs to be done.
----Again, do you know a rough price tag for such work?