Sometimes it happens that it becomes necessary to expand the doorway. This can happen due to the acquisition of a new door, any redevelopment, or the need to carry a thing of an especially large size, which is not included in the existing span. It is quite possible to do such work with your own hands, but at the same time it should be borne in mind that this process is very laborious and it is worth taking on it yourself only when there are no other options.
Before starting the process of expanding the doorway, you should take permission to carry out work from the relevant authorities, since such actions are considered a redevelopment of the premises.
When preparing the space for repair, you should cover nearby furniture and other household items with polyethylene to save them from dust. You also need to think about your own safety and carry out work in special glasses and gloves, in order to avoid causing yourself any injury.
To increase the opening in a panel house, you should follow these steps:
- Dismantle the old door - this process begins with the removal of fittings and platbands;
- Next, the canvas is removed from the loops, and the vertical racks are cut with a grinder;
- If the expansion is planned not only on the sides, but also in height, then the jumper must also be removed (for this purpose, you can use a nail puller);
- Next, you need to mark the increase along the perimeter of the wall;
- Then, holes are made along the contour of the span with a hammer drill at a small distance from each other in order to facilitate the spalling of the material;
- The panel should be cut in turn on each side;
- After cutting the reinforcement bars, you can start removing the remnants of the walls with a sledgehammer, striking the material.
After the opening is widened, it must be reinforced, even if the wall is not load-bearing. Reinforcement is made by welding with metal corners or strips.
If the opening is very large, it is better to expand it in squares. Moreover, you need to work from top to bottom so that the upper parts do not collapse during work.
Instructions: how to expand a doorway in a concrete wall
Expansion of a doorway in a concrete wall can be done by drilling. To do this, you need to stock up on a hammer drill, drill, sledgehammer and chisel.
You can, of course, perform this process by operating one grinder with a concrete circle, but in this case, the dust will be unmeasured.
How to extend the span using the drilling method:
- Everything starts in a standard way - the door is removed, the cutting lines are drawn;
- Next, a puncher and a drill are drilled holes in the concrete with an interval of 3-5 cm from each other along the entire perimeter;
- Then a chisel is taken and hammered into one of the holes, located somewhere in the middle (this is done in order to chip off the drilled piece);
- If all else fails, you can try to do the same with a different hole and do this in a circle.
After all the pieces break off, it remains to remove the debris, prime the span and put the door in place.
Expanding a Doorway in a Brick Wall: A Step-by-Step Guide
We figured out the expansion of the span in concrete and panel houses, but how can we do this in a brick wall?
The main thing here is to observe accuracy and caution, since by exerting excessive efforts, you can accidentally destroy the entire masonry.
A step-by-step guide on how to enlarge a doorway:
- First, the contours of the future flight are outlined;
- If necessary, the lintel is transferred and the upper masonry is strengthened (the structure can be reinforced with metal channels or by installing tension beams and bolts);
- Next, the marked part of the wall is cut out with a grinder;
- The inner end can be knocked out with a sledgehammer, and the perimeter can be cleaned with a hammer and chisel;
- Excess bricks can be removed by hand, remembering to first clean the mortar from the seams;
- The edges of the opening are also cut off with a grinder.
After completing all the work, it is imperative to check whether a whole wall remains. If any cracks or chips appear, they must be treated with plaster.
Safe expansion of a doorway in a load-bearing wall: ways to strengthen the structure
If you are going to expand the entrance opening in the load-bearing wall, you should understand the level of loads, and be sure to reinforce the structure. You can use additional reinforcement, you can use some other reliable metal structures.
It is best to use a cutting tool with diamond discs to do the work to extend the span.
To strengthen the load-bearing wall, follow these steps:
- Mount a steel beam in the upper part of the opening, and cut a special niche half a brick in size under it;
- Further, all formed hollow places should be filled with a cement solution;
- Then fix the channel in the niche and carry out the rest of the work only after the concrete has hardened.
If the opening is planned to be more than 1.5 m wide, brick walls should be reinforced with vertical metal posts.
One of the most reliable ways to strengthen load-bearing walls is to use frames welded to each other. They should be tightened with hairpins and located on both sides of the span. This method is mainly used on the lower floors of high-rise buildings or when it is necessary to increase the opening to a considerable height.
Competent expansion of the doorway (video)
It is quite possible to expand the doorway on your own if you have all the necessary tools at hand. This work is dusty, dirty and noisy, therefore, neighbors should be warned about possible inconveniences. And yet everything is real. The main thing is to follow safety rules and strengthen the structure well, especially when it comes to load-bearing walls.
Instructions
Expanding a doorway is a painstaking job that requires accuracy and professionalism. The complexity of this work is due to the rather high risks of destruction of the entire supporting structure. When performing work, it is necessary to preserve the strength of the wall and the structure of the floors, to prevent deformation of the opening and the loss of bricks. Due to these reasons, it is better to entrust these works to professionals. Before deciding on this procedure, it is important to make sure that the load on the wall with a deformed doorway does not exceed the established norm. This type of work belongs to the options for redevelopment of housing and, as a result, requires official approval from the authorities. Those. you need to obtain documentary permission to transform the doorway. To do this, you need to prepare a whole package of documents: a floor plan, certificates from the BTI, an extract from the house book, etc.
The distance the opening can be extended depends on the type of wall and house. On reinforced concrete and brick walls, it is allowed to cut from 70 cm to 200 cm in width and 210 cm in height. In cases where an apartment or office space is located on the lower floors, the opening must be additionally reinforced.
The procedure itself takes place in several stages. Before carrying out work, you need to remove all foreign pieces of furniture, and also cover the walls and ceiling with a protective film to avoid dust, dirt and water getting on their surface.
Start all work on expanding the opening with dismantling the old entrance or interior door. After that, it is necessary to carefully measure the distance by which you want to expand the opening. Then the doorway is expanded directly, after which remove the resulting debris and prepare the opening for the installation of a new door. For the high-quality conduct of these events, you need a special tool, as well as a certain skill. The essential point here is whether the wall being modified belongs to load-bearing or permanent walls. In addition, you should not make the doorway wider than 1 meter on the lower floors of apartment or office buildings, since the walls in this case are an additional load. Otherwise, in order to ensure safety, additional supports must be installed.
The opening work is done in two ways. The first method is to use a sledgehammer, a jackhammer or rock drill to remove excess material, and the second is to cut the wall more accurately using a diamond blade. In the first case, this procedure looks like this: through holes are made along the outlined line, and after that, using a jackhammer or a sledgehammer, gradually knocks out pieces of brick or concrete. This method is considered traditional, but it must be borne in mind that working with a jackhammer or sledgehammer can contribute to the formation of microcracks along the entire surface of the wall. In addition, after expanding the opening in the traditional way, the edges of the wall remain uneven, which makes it necessary to seal or install slopes.
Diamond cutting is a more viable option for buildings with both brick and concrete walls. There are a lot of advantages of this method. Using a cutting tool with diamond blades, you can widen the doorway more quickly and efficiently. This tool is capable of cutting through brick, concrete, reinforcement. You can also note the low noise level, the absence of vibration and shock impact on the wall, which allows you to maintain its integrity. With the help of diamond cutting, you can get an even wall edge and a clear geometric shape of the opening. It also prevents the formation of cracks and leaves no chips. However, this procedure is accompanied by the release of dust. To avoid this, water is used for accurate diamond cutting: the disc is moistened with a certain amount of water, which absorbs dust particles formed during its operation. In terms of cost, using a diamond cutter is a more expensive procedure compared to expanding the opening with a sledgehammer.
The work on expanding the doorway in a brick house is similar to the same work in a wooden house that we described in the works on. We measure the doorway, measure, if necessary, the distance we need to expand the doorway, draw a marking line and use the tools to cut the end of the opening along the marking line.
If in a wooden house we used a chainsaw as the main tool, then to expand the doorway in a brick house, we may need more than one type of tool. Most often, the following tools are used to perform work on expanding a doorway in a brick house:
- Electric jackhammer with a lance (shovel).
- Drill - hammer drill with a drill and a blade.
- Gas saw with diamond cutting disc.
- Grinder with reinforced or diamond cutting disc.
Now we will consider the fundamental points of work on expanding the doorway using the above tools.
Expansion of the opening with an electric bump stop
If we use the tool specified in paragraph 1 to expand the doorway, then in this case we can get an undesirable result of work. Since when slotting a wall, especially that wall, the masonry of which is made of small piece materials, it is possible not only to crack the plaster of the walls adjacent to the doorway, but also to break the masonry joints in places far from the place where we are working to expand the opening.
The use of an electric jackhammer with a shovel or lance is desirable for dismantling slopes or a thick layer of cement-sand mixture with the help of which the ends of the doorway were previously extended and leveled, as shown in the photo.
In order to minimize the appearance of cracks in the plaster and get smoother ends of the doorway after the work has been done to expand it, you can use another version of work using the tool specified in paragraph 2.
Expanding the doorway with a hammer drill
For a more accurate way of expanding the doorway, we need the tool specified in paragraph 2. Take a hammer drill with a drill installed in the chuck (A). The length of the drill should ensure that through holes are obtained in the wall, that is, the length of the drill should be greater than the thickness of the wall.
Along the marked line, we begin to drill the wall, making through holes. It is advisable to make the distance between the holes as small as possible in order to obtain the maximum effect of unloading the part of the wall with the doorway (B) that we need to dismantle.
After the holes are made around the entire perimeter of the doorway, instead of a drill, we install a spatula or a lance in the drill-perforator cartridge and begin work on breaking off parts of the wall by directing the working part of the blade or lances along the holes made.
Note:It is recommended to use a hammer drill with an impact force of 3 to 5 J. If the hammer drill has an impact force of less than 3 J, then it will be problematic to drill through holes in concrete especially. Perforators with an impact force of more than 5 J are heavier, and this creates additional physical exertion and hands will quickly get tired.
This method of expanding the doorway in a stone house is the most popular and is used more often than others. But sometimes you have to use another method to expand the doorway using the tool specified in paragraph 3. This method is especially relevant when expanding the opening in panel houses or houses where the walls have a reinforcing strap.
Expanding the doorway with a gas cutter or grinder
Expanding a doorway in a stone house using a grinder or a gas cutter allows us to get smooth ends of the doorway without further refinement, but the use of this tool has some serious disadvantages compared to using the tools specified in paragraphs 1 and 2:
- Photo (1) shows an example of cutting reinforced concrete using a petrol saw with a diamond wheel. In photo (2), you and I can see how a large amount of dust and small particles of concrete is formed in the air during cutting of concrete, if you expand the doorway in this way, then it is desirable that the tool be equipped with a device for collecting dust.
- When working with a grinder with a reinforced cut-off wheel of a larger diameter and without a protective cover (photo (3)), the risk of injury increases, since the cut-off wheel can crack and fly apart into pieces during operation (photo (4)), therefore, safety measures must be observed when working with a grinder or a gas cutter.
The photo shows not only examples of working with a gas cutter and a grinder to expand the doorway, but also how basic safety requirements are violated. The work is carried out without special protective equipment, especially for the face. What are the recommended protections for using this tool? What else should you pay attention to to comply with safety rules when working with this tool?
As the main means of protection when working on expanding the doorway in a stone house, using a gas cutter or a grinder, you must use:
- Respirator - for respiratory protection.
- Glasses - to protect the organs of vision.
- Special gloves - to protect the skin on the hands.
- If the work with a grinder or a gas cutter is carried out at head level, then it is necessary to protect the head, for example, by wearing a construction helmet.
- Tightly buttoned clothes - so that dust and small pieces of concrete do not get under the clothes.
A protective cover must be installed on a grinder or gas cutter while cutting the wall of a stone house. It is also necessary to use special cutting discs, which are designed for cutting concrete, and if the house is a panel house or a reinforced wall, then it is required to install a disc for cutting concrete and metal.
After the markings are applied to the wall surface, the tool is prepared for work and all safety requirements are met, you can proceed to expand the doorway. If the wall is cut using a diamond wheel, a simple method can be used to reduce the amount of dust. Your assistant from a plastic bottle (A) can pour a thin stream of water onto the diamond wheel (B):
Wetting the diamond wheel with water, of course, will have a positive effect on its operation (it will cool down), and this will also lead to a decrease in the formation of dust. But I want to make a reservation right away, concrete particles moistened with water will stick together and, in simple terms, instead of dust, dirt will appear (A):
When cutting a concrete or brick wall with a thickness of less than 150 mm with a grinder or a gas saw, it is recommended to make a through cut in several passes. That is, first we cut the wall along the entire height of the marking line to a depth of 50-80 mm, after that we make the second cut to approximately the same depth, we get two or three passes with a cutting wheel along the marking line.
In the event that the wall has a thickness of 150 mm or more, then you may have to cut from both sides of the wall (depending on the power of the tool and the diameter of the circle). When cutting a wall of this thickness, you first need to make a cut with a depth equal to half the thickness of the wall, then go to the other side of the wall with a doorway and make a cut of the same depth.
In order for the cuts in the wall to match, you can make markings on the other side of the wall as follows. After completing the cut of the wall on one side, we drill through holes at the top and bottom of the doorway in the cut made; these holes will serve as a guide for us for marking on the other side of the wall with the doorway.
When the cuts in the wall are made, you can use a chisel and a hammer or use a puncher to work on chipping off a part of the end of the doorway by leading the punch blade along the saw line:
After carrying out work on expanding the doorway, we remove the debris and proceed to the final stage of our work - Ph.
In the process of carrying out repairs, for one reason or another, it may be necessary to expand the doorway. It is quite possible to do this, but it is important to follow some rules. The process itself is very laborious, therefore, it should be performed only if there really is a need for it and alternative methods cannot be dispensed with.
With a significant expansion of the doorway, the installation of reinforcement is required
Valid parameters
In a private house, it is much easier to solve the problem of rebuilding individual parts of the building. Nevertheless, we must not forget about the established norms and restrictions. In the apartment, any such actions should be coordinated with the BTI in advance. Violation of the norms when trying to expand the opening can lead to the fact that the wall will not withstand the load and the building will become dangerous for people to stay in it.
In order to prevent this, it is important to know what are the restrictions for expanding the opening of an entrance or interior door. For most designs, standard dimensions are 70-80 cm. Most often, a change in these values is due to the acquisition of a door block of the wrong size.
The maximum allowable openings are 200 cm wide and 210 cm high. In this case, it is advisable not to build them in load-bearing structures. An exception may be the opening of the front door, but in this case it should be additionally strengthened.
Scheme of strengthening the opening in the bearing wall with the introduction of the lintel from the channels
Tools for the job
To increase the doorway in modern construction, various tools and devices can be used. There are several ways to dismantle excess walls:
- Rough method. In this case, tools such as a sledgehammer, a hammer drill, a jackhammer and the like are used. In this case, it is necessary to first outline the contours and use the tools to knock down the excess. Of course, the process is very laborious, besides, there is another threat here - the formation of microcracks due to a large shock load. This may require additional finishing work and, in general, impairs the strength of the wall structure.
- Dry cutting... For this purpose, such a familiar tool as a grinder is used. With its help, you can easily cut out the contours you need in shape. It also copes with fittings. The downside is that you will have to cut on both sides, and it is not always possible to exactly match the cuts. In addition, dry cutting creates a lot of dust and quickly wears out the diamond blade.
- Wet cutting. For this purpose, you can use a spray gun and irrigate the work surface while working with a grinder, but a more rational method would be to use a special construction cutter. It is equipped with a large diamond blade and a water tank. With its help, you can cut an opening of the desired size in one go and at the same time with minimal contamination. True, the cost of such equipment is considerable.
The main methods of dismantling a part of the wall in the opening
When carrying out such work, be sure to use personal protective equipment: glasses and a respirator, they will protect you from dust and small fragments.
Panel house
Most often, it becomes necessary to expand the doorway in a panel house. In high-rise buildings, this issue is quite problematic, since in addition to a large amount of construction waste, there is also a negative reaction from neighbors to such noisy repair work. That is why it is necessary to minimize the time for dismantling the structure. The best option, available at a cost, is a grinder.
First you need to completely remove the old door frame from the opening. The supporting timber beams are also dismantled. Next, you need to make the appropriate measurements and outline the contours of the desired passage in terms of dimensions.
If the opening is expanded in a load-bearing wall, especially one adjacent to the entrance door, an important aspect is the temporary strengthening of the structure. It is best to initially cut only the top and move the jumper. Despite the increase in width, it should go deep into the wall by at least 15-20 cm on each side.
When expanding the opening in a panel house, an important aspect is the temporary strengthening of the structure.
Cutting is carried out along the outlined contour, first from one side of the room, and then from the other. The most problematic areas are the outlet of the reinforcement. After the metal rods are cut, you can pick up the sledgehammer and remove the excess concrete. If the opening area is significant, you need to work in squares. To do this, the wall is divided into sections and additional lines are cut. Dismantling is carried out from top to bottom so that the upper tiers do not fall on you during work.
Brick house
The process of expanding the opening in a brick wall is performed in a slightly different way. It is important to be careful here, as excessive shock loading can lead to the destruction of the entire masonry. It is best to perform this operation in the following sequence:
- Sketch the contours of the future opening.
- Move the jumper if necessary. You can use a metal channel as a reinforcement.
- You need to remove extra bricks one by one. To begin with, the solution is cleaned from the seams as much as possible. Then use a hammer drill, drill or chisel with a hammer to break the brick into small pieces.
- With a large area of work, you can clean out the outline of the opening, and knock out the inside of the masonry with a sledgehammer.
- The extreme contours are cut off with a grinder. For arched vaults, you first need to free the edges of the bricks around the perimeter.
When expanding the opening in a brick wall, a jumper must be used to strengthen
If you need to make a wide entrance opening in a brick house, you will additionally need to cut the reinforcement.
After rough work, check the integrity of the masonry and, if necessary, plaster cracks and cracked joints.
Increase in height
In addition to expanding the doorway in the load-bearing wall, it may also be necessary to increase its height. In this case, you cannot do without transferring the horizontal jumper. Without it, the entire load will fall on the fragile door structure, which can lead to a collapse of the wall.
How to safely increase the height of the doorway? To do this, you must first install props in the aisle. Then, using a grinder, vertical cuts are made and the excess concrete is knocked down. This removes the old jumper. Its edges can be left in the wall or replaced with a brick backing. The new crossbar is installed higher and covered with mortar. Further work can be done only after it dries.
To safely increase the opening in height, a jumper must be installed
It is not recommended to carry out such manipulations in the load-bearing wall. If such a need is unavoidable, follow the rules for carrying out dismantling work and in no case deviate from the established norms, their violation is fraught with a fine and, moreover, is life-threatening.
To increase doorways, you will need plaster, primer, nails, screws, a metal frame and guides, as well as a spatula and squares. The transfer process consists of two stages: transferring the opening by a few centimeters and expanding the opening in width and height.
An increase in the height of the opening in a panel house is carried out by cutting the monolithic structure to the required height. If the doorway is in the interior partition, then in this case the opening is increased with the help of corners. Reduction of doorways is done using a special drywall construction.
Modification in height up to 6 cm is carried out by plastering the doorway, and over 6 cm - a structure made of plasterboard or brick is needed. Brickwork is durable, and plasterboard is lightweight. Sometimes it is necessary to move a doorway. The opening from the monolithic wall can be cut off. And if the doorway is in a brick wall, then all the elements will need to be transferred. Both processes involve either extending the wall or cutting.
Stages of work to increase openings
Increasing the height of the openings includes a number of preparatory work. First, using a level, marks are applied on both sides of the opening. Next, the old opening is dismantled. After that, holes are made along the outlined line. Gently remove concrete or brick with a sledgehammer and hammer. This method is traditional, but the best result is achieved using special equipment equipped with diamond cutting discs. Plaster is removed according to the specified marks along the entire length of the timber. The next stage is laying bricks along the side of the wall up to the marks.In brick and monolithic walls, you can change the size of doorways by no more than 21 cm in height and 20 cm in width. Expansion of doorways can be accompanied by cracks or chips. Therefore, upon completion of the work, you should carefully inspect the wall and eliminate all defects. A cement layer is applied between the upper part of the opening and the brickwork.
Often there is a need to strengthen and strengthen the openings. If it is a concrete wall, then you can strengthen the opening with the help of channels. The brick structure is reinforced with metal or concrete lintel. If the doorway is located in a load-bearing wall, then work is carried out with a permit and a project that describes the stages of the activities, the procedure for increasing the opening and procedures for strengthening the structure.