knocking a door way into a wall
 

Hey folks,

In my new (old) victorian terrace, there's a fairly useless room at the back that is only accessible via an external door in the back garden. It's too small to use as a work shop, but it'd make an ideal place to house the washer,dryer and combi boiler, if I open a door way from the kitchen into it.

The dividing wall is solid, but there's no solid wall above, and the joists run parallel with the wall. I assume it's single skin wall, but I can drill through a small piece of mortar to get the depth.

The flooring in the room is screwed - and will need relaying, and the walls are bare brick, so they'll need to be plasterboarded out, as well as the ceiling. There are no services in the way of the proposed door way.

So i have a few questions re's how to go about this:

1) Should I assume the wall is load bearing and choose a sufficient lintel and use acroprops?

2) What size does the hole need to be to support a 32" door? I assume that a bit more than the width of door+width of casing x 2 will be required.

3) there's going to be brick at the base of the door - I assume I just chisel out enough of this to lay a solid floor over it.

4) Do I just go at it with a hammer and cold chisel, or should I get hold of something like a stihl saw to make the initial cut?

5) I assume there are no requirements re's fire rated doors etc. as it'll be an interior door.

Cheers,
imanc

knocking a door way into a wall
 

On 05/04/2013 14:51, imanc wrote:

Hey folks,

In my new (old) victorian terrace, there's a fairly useless room at the
back that is only accessible via an external door in the back garden.
It's too small to use as a work shop, but it'd make an ideal place to
house the washer,dryer and combi boiler, if I open a door way from the
kitchen into it.

The dividing wall is solid, but there's no solid wall above, and the
joists run parallel with the wall. I assume it's single skin wall, but I
can drill through a small piece of mortar to get the depth.

The flooring in the room is screwed - and will need relaying, and the
walls are bare brick, so they'll need to be plasterboarded out, as well
as the ceiling. There are no services in the way of the proposed door
way.

So i have a few questions re's how to go about this:

1) Should I assume the wall is load bearing and choose a sufficient
lintel and use acroprops?

2) What size does the hole need to be to support a 32" door? I assume
that a bit more than the width of door+width of casing x 2 will be
required.

3) there's going to be brick at the base of the door - I assume I just
chisel out enough of this to lay a solid floor over it.

4) Do I just go at it with a hammer and cold chisel, or should I get
hold of something like a stihl saw to make the initial cut?

5) I assume there are no requirements re's fire rated doors etc. as
it'll be an interior door.

Cheers,
imanc




Sounds like the old outside loo, or possibly a coal-shed. Presumably the
kitchen is single story so when you say the wall is load bearing, you
mean it is helping to support the sloping roof of the kitchen. The
direction of the "slope" will tell you the direction of the roof joists.
Even if the joists go perpendicular to this wall, the wall won't be
carrying that much load. If you are going to replace the ceiling anyway,
take that down first and you can see what is going on.

It's defo not the loo - that's the end of the garden. Could have been a coal shed, maybe!? It's thereabout's 2.5m x 1.5m. There's no sloping roof or anything like that. It's an oddity, no doubt. But most people on the road have extended their kitchens, or installed toilets etc. in there. I'll take some pics when it gets lighter.

I don't think it is load bearing, but I'm not sure. The joists run parallel to it, and it has no solid wall above. On top of that, this wall is 1.5m away from the main exterior wall at the back. It just separates the kitchen from the weird outhouse room. In an ideal world I'd just demolish the entire wall and have a much bigger kitchen, but I suspect this would require a structural engineer to confirm it's possible.

I'm now thinking, however, that it'd be better to sort the floor first. I lifted a tile in that room and it looks to be soil underneath - smells like soil too. So I think I'd need to excavate and fit a solid floor, as doing it whilst there's a gaping hole into the house would be messy.

knocking a door way into a wall
 

On Friday, April 5, 2013 9:45:09 PM UTC+1, imanc wrote:
newshound;3041784 Wrote:
On 05/04/2013 14:51, imanc wrote:-
Hey folks,

I'm now thinking, however, that it'd be better to sort the floor first.
I lifted a tile in that room and it looks to be soil underneath - smells
like soil too. So I think I'd need to excavate and fit a solid floor,
as doing it whilst there's a gaping hole into the house would be messy.

I trust you'll insulate all over.


NT

I'd insulate the floor area. I'd be a bit reluctant to insulate the walls with celotex, as it'll diminsh the already small space.