internal brickwall; creating a double doorway

Hi everyone, I'm new to this site and new to the whole idea of home improvements. My husband and I have bought a very old cottage (approx built 1880s). We are hoping to open up the place a little by creating a doorway between two rooms. The wall has an existing doorway, but it is in the wrong place. We would like to seal that doorway (it's on the far left hand side of the wall-don't know if that matters) and create a double doorway in the centre of the wall. We are thinking this will help create a feeling of space when the double doors are open, but it will also leave us with the option to close off the room when we need to. Just one last thing, the wall is single brick and is showing signs of damp (at the base of the wall). What do we need to consider and how do we do it; seal the existing doorway and create a new one and is the damp issue a problem? We would be grateful for any advice. Cheers to all

Photos! Of the room and in the roof.

You probably want to identify the source of the damp, is it through the rest of the house?

No problems with what your after, but if you are cutting out a 2m wide gap in a wall, you probably need to identify what sort of load the wall holds.

Cheer

Look here for damp solutions.

Al :)

wonder what they used for dampcourse in the 1800's...

you'll need to get a steel archbar in there to carry the brickwork above the new door opening and any roof or ceiling loads that may be at that location. I suggest getting someone in there to have a look and advise.

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Originally Posted by ThePope

wonder what they used for dampcourse in the 1800's...

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Slate or Bitchumen.
Or nothing.

Al :)

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Originally Posted by namtrak

Photos! Of the room and in the roof.

You probably want to identify the source of the damp, is it through the rest of the house?

No problems with what your after, but if you are cutting out a 2m wide gap in a wall, you probably need to identify what sort of load the wall holds.

Cheer

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Cheers for the advice! Well, I'd love to show you a pic, just a bit of a problem, we are renting the house out at the moment, so it's a little difficult to get a photo quickly. We are moving in later this year. Just trying to start planning and get an idea of the things we can do ourselves.

There are no other signs of damp anywhere else in the house. Just that small patch. How do you go about identifying whether the wall is load bearing? Sorry for the ignorance.

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Originally Posted by ozwinner

Look here for damp solutions.

Al :)

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Thanks for the tip

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Originally Posted by Nades

How do you go about identifying whether the wall is load bearing? Sorry for the ignorance.

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Have a look up in the roof space.
Are there any props that support the roof itself?
If so, where these props sit is where the load is.

Al :)

Right oh. So, what order do you think we should go about things? We are also thinking about replacing the floorboards. So maybe, create the new door space, I assume do the damp proofing whilst the boards are up, patch the old doorway and re-render the plaster last. What is actually involved with covering up the old doorway?:confused:

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Originally Posted by Nades

......replacing the floorboards. ........create the new door space, I assume do the damp proofing...........patch the old doorway............re-render the plaster last..................... What is actually involved with covering up the old doorway?:confused:

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Don't want much do you.

The order is right, but each of the jobs is pretty big. You really need to plan out each of your steps there. Are you re-rendering the whole room? Or just some patches and over the closed door space?

To cover up the old door, you could just build up some stud framing and plaster sheet over it. Also you could use the gap to make some sort of feature. These are a couple of pics of what we did with an old door space in our joint.

The gap on the right

And the middle bit is the other side

Cheers. Won't bother you guys for awhile. Just wanted to check that we were on the right path. Thanks for your time. :)

Whilst all of the above advice was excellent - well mostly !! - I would like to suggest that you carefully consider your new door's location - we put in a double door because it wopulf "open up the area " and include the other room in the general living space and we thought we would then be able "to close off the areas when necessary". What we didn't take into consideration was the layout of each room AFTER the change - and how it would affect the placement of furniture, traffic movement from one area to another, etrc. We are now considering changing the doorway we put in because although we were successful in solving the problems we sort to resolve - we created a whole bunch of new ones! Like: where will we put the sofa without it cuting off access 0r preventing the doors from being closed- so be sure to check out you furniture layout.

I think the order of things is a bit out of whack.Firstly you should brick up the old opening (not studs) and create your new opening.Then have the damp course repaired,pulling up boards as required for access.Then have the render repaired,and lastly replace your flooring.If you do the floor first,you run the real risk of damaging them with the brickwork.If you render on top of your new boards,you will risk moisture penetration and staining.
Tools

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Originally Posted by Tools

.....Firstly you should brick up the old opening (not studs) ......

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Why brick up your opening? Is there something structural in it?

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Originally Posted by katydid

.....AFTER the change - and how it would affect the placement of furniture, traffic movement from one area to another ......

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Yes, good point. Wall space is handy on both sides of it, and it is not until it is gone that you miss it. Places to lean book shelves etc

Cheers

[quote=namtrak]Why brick up your opening? Is there something structural in it?

1.Possibly structural reasons,depending upon where the new opening is in relation to the existing one.

2. It is a brick house ! Nades wants to keep the render,and plaseter board and render don't mix.Yes,you could render over it if you wanted to(and repair it later when the junction cracks) but it is merely a patch.Render and set will cost more,but it is best to keep the integrity of the house in tact and use similar materials.

Tools

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carefully consider your new door's location

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Yeah, I take on your point, you don't want to have to move it again. Basically, we will still be using the rooms for seperate activities. One for a study, reading room and the original lounge for watching TV etc.

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Why brick up your opening? Is there something structural in it?

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We want to brick it up or close it in, whatever way you want to look at it, so that it balances the room (on the lounge side) and also we want to use the corner for a computer desk (on the other side). But, now that you have raised the point it might be worth thinking about how the cavity could be used in the study. Maybe a book shelf etc.

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best to keep the integrity of the house in tact and use similar materials.

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Right Oh. Can I just check that I'm using the right lingo hard plaster=render? and hard plaster/render is best over brick.
The house has single brick with hard plaster/render, so it is best to stick with the orignal materials. Right? is that what you are saying Tools?

Also I hear what you're saying regarding order of work.
Cheers again guys:)