Hello and greetings from Amsterdam,
One of my clients has asked me to put a door in a brick bearing wall in their 3rd floor apartment.(there is 1 floor and a flat roof above) My question involves supporting the wall while I install a steel lintel before installing the new door and jamb. If I use braces to support the joists above that seems to me to not do a whole lot to support the rest of the brick wall above. I read on the net about drilling some 50mm holes in the wall as close to the ceiling as possible and putting steel rods thru then putting the joist supports under that. http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/forming_openings_through_walls.htm
Is this step really needed? Does it really support the brick wall? Working with brick walls is a bit of a learning curve for me. I look forward to your help.
Replies
I'm no expert, but in my experience (I have done this about a half dozen times) you can either cut out the door opening and ignore the lentil until the doorway is cut, or use your masonry saw to cut a slot above the future opening and slide your lentil in before cutting out the rest of the opening.
I used the first method once on a house where I was removing an exterior double brick wall section that was about 15 feet wide and had no problems at all.
I'm sure someone with more experience will come along shortly.
Custom Cabinetry and Furniture
http://www.BartlettWoodworking.com
Just some questions.
How many wythe is the wall?(how many layers thick of brick)?
Does the laying pattern indicate a bonding course?(Every 6th course in the wall exhibits only ends of the brick exposed.)
How many courses of brick are above the header elevation of the proposed door opening? How tall is the parapet wall above the proposed opening?
How are the roof rafters installed in the brick wall?
What is the span of the joist and the cross section component description?
How about a picture?
What Bartlett posted is a commonly used approach...in some situations, but not necessarily ALL circumstances.
..................Iron Helix
gecko is right. letting in the lentil into a scored slot is the preferred method in my neck ofthe woods.
Dave
Hema -- just did a 7 foot opening (2 meters) early poster is right how may wyeths deep is the wall? and does it have a header course. This is what I did: 2 courses beneath the header course, I took out 2
courses of brick; put in the steel lintel and rebricked above; then I then on the inside and did the same thing; put the lintel in, rebricked. Lastly I removed all of the brick beneath the 2 lintels. I is an easy engineering job but very labor intensive -- get a good heavy hammer and a good chisel
Dudley,
Thanks for the advice. Here in the Netherlands I can rent what sounds like a lot of fun to use: A brick cutting chain saw. But you feel that supporting the joists above is not needed? I have not stripped away the plaster on the brick to see the way it was laid up but as there is an entire floor above, it seems like that is a lot of weight bearing down but I guess the brick will support itself so to speak.Lastly, how can I determine what size lintel I should put in ,other than hiring an engineer?Thanks again for your help
I asked our mason your question today. ####life time contractor 60 years old,
He asked what size opening, I said it would be a 3'0'' door. He said do the carpentry temp and don't worry about the brick just take it out.