Expanding a doorway: how to expand an opening in a brick and concrete wall, how to get permission to increase it in a panel house

During the repair process, 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 labor-intensive, so it should only be performed if there is really a need for it and alternative methods cannot be used.

If the doorway is significantly widened, reinforcement installation is required

Prices: Diamond cutting (diamond blade)

When determining the distance of the future door opening, rely on the type of your house. If the walls are made of brick or reinforced concrete, then the cut standard is from 70 to 2000 mm in width and 2.1 m in height. If the room or office is located on the lower floors, then it is worthwhile to make the necessary strengthening of the doorway.

Before expanding the opening, you will need to remove everything unnecessary, including furniture, and also protect the ceiling and walls from dust and dirt with film.

How to correctly measure a doorway?

We talked in detail about how to correctly measure a doorway yourself in the article How to measure the entrance doorway?

1. Measure the width, height and depth of the doorway
2. Measure each indicator at three points outside and inside the apartment
3. Fix the smallest size

When taking measurements, be sure to take into account the curvature of the walls. The door must be level, otherwise the opening will need to be modified.

If the distortions are minor, the size of the door is selected taking into account the distortion so that the structure is level. To do this, you will need the help of a specially trained surveyor who is familiar with the nuances of different openings. Depending on the material and thickness of the walls, the characteristics of the opening, the specialist will select the necessary option for finalizing the opening and help calculate the correct size of the entrance door.

Who will install

The complexity of choosing the design of steel doors and the picky selection of color schemes are behind us. The door to your citadel has been delivered and the question arises as to who will do the installation.

The correct decision would be in favor of specialists. There are several important arguments for this.

1. Steel doors must be installed in compliance with the rules that the craftsmen know about. Violation of them will lead to difficulties in opening and closing doors, skewed hinges and even destruction of the wall.
2. An experienced specialist always has the necessary tools. Therefore, if you don’t want to buy: an angle grinder, a welding machine, a drill, a screwdriver, a crowbar, a hammer drill, a chisel, a hacksaw - invite those who have it all.
3. The master knows exactly the sequence of stages and the scope of work.
4. In case of incorrect installation, there will be someone to contact.

What is it for?

Expanding a doorway involves increasing its main dimensions by certain values. Such operations are not performed very often, since all dimensions are adjusted to the standard dimensions of the door leaves. But sometimes you need to widen the hole. There are several main reasons that lead to such actions:

1. Redevelopment of the premises. This process involves changing the basic positions or dimensions of the main structural elements of the house. This is done quite rarely, since in most cases it requires coordination with various government organizations.
2. Door installation. Many owners of apartments or private houses decorate their premises with beautiful wide door panels. This additionally provides several advantages, since, if necessary, it allows you to carry large items through the doors.

Features and key stages of arranging a pigtail

When arranging the pigtail, you should pay attention to the following points:

• after selecting grooves or cutting tenons, it is recommended to treat the ends of the timber with an antiseptic;
• response sliding elements should be adjusted as accurately as possible - they should slide and not dangle;
• a compensation gap of 50 mm should be left above the pigtail;
• insulation must be installed in this space;
• the thermal insulation material for the expansion gap must be elastic so that it does not break under the influence of shrinkage and does not interfere with it;
• four-sided casing is better and more reliable than three-sided casing.

Using the described technologies, taking into account these recommendations, it is already possible to properly arrange openings in a house made of timber, avoiding the problems mentioned above.

Expansion of openings in load-bearing walls

Our company actively uses diamond cutting technology. This completely prevents the formation of dust. Also, by widening the opening in a panel house, you can get an even seam that will not have cracks or chips. Our services are especially often used in apartment buildings, since the absence of vibrations is an important parameter.

We would argue that widening a brick opening requires the utmost care. If you approach the matter without the proper approach, you can simply destroy the masonry. To prevent such problems, when carrying out work to expand openings, professionals strengthen the structure.

To strengthen the structure, a channel is usually used, and all the voids that form in it are subsequently filled with cement mortar.

Only after the solution has hardened does diamond cutting of the openings begin (here https://almaztehrez.ru/almaznaya-rezka-otverstij/ for more details).

Dismantling walls that are made of concrete also requires additional reinforcement. For strengthening, a U-shaped channel is usually used. Before starting work with a load-bearing wall, the master must see the appropriate permit

, since otherwise his activities would be illegal.

About probable risks

When work to expand the opening is carried out independently, the risk of cracking the walls and their subsequent destruction due to loss of strength characteristics increases significantly. If possible, try to avoid generating dangerous vibrations.

When using power tools, extreme care must be taken. In particular, do not, under any circumstances, remove the protection from the angle grinder. Of course, this will allow you to establish a larger circle, but with the slightest careless movement it is not difficult to get a serious injury.

Source

Valid parameters

In a private house, solving the problem of rebuilding individual parts of the building is much easier. However, we must not forget about the established norms and restrictions. In an apartment, any such actions should be agreed upon in advance with the BTI. Violation of the standards when trying to expand the opening can lead to the wall not being able to withstand the load and the building becoming dangerous for people to stay in it.

To prevent this, it is important to know what restrictions exist for expanding the opening of an entrance or interior door. For most designs, the standard dimensions are 70-80 cm. Most often, a change in these values ​​is due to the purchase of a door block of the wrong size.

The maximum permissible openings are 200 cm wide and 210 cm high. It is advisable not to build them in load-bearing structures. An exception may be the entrance door opening, but in this case it should be further strengthened.

Scheme of strengthening an opening in a load-bearing wall with a lintel made of channels

In general, it is not recommended to widen the passage by more than 100 cm, otherwise it is necessary to install additional supports on the sides and, possibly, in the center of the opening.

Height increase

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 moving the horizontal jumper. Without it, the entire load will fall on the fragile door structure, which can lead to the collapse of the wall.

How to safely increase the height of a doorway? To do this, you must first install supports in the passage. Then, using a grinder, vertical cuts are made to knock off the excess concrete. The old jumper is removed. 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 has dried.

To safely increase the height of the opening, you need to install a jumper

It is not recommended to carry out such manipulations in a load-bearing wall. If such a need is unavoidable, follow the rules for performing dismantling work and in no case deviate from the established norms; violation of them is fraught with a fine and, in addition, is life-threatening.

Required Tools

Tools you will need:

• Roulette. With its help, you can measure all the parameters of the doorway with the necessary accuracy.
• If the opening is empty, it is necessary to have a building level to measure the verticality of the walls and determine the parallelism of the border of the top of the opening to the floor of the room.
• A simple ruler is needed to measure the length of small openings and the width of joints.
• You also need to prepare a notepad and pen for writing down data. Instead of a pen, you can use a pencil. It is not only the measurement results that need to be recorded. It is better to draw a diagram with dimensions, indicate completeness, as well as special conditions.

Tools for work

To increase the doorway in modern construction, various tools and devices can be used. There are several ways to dismantle excess wall:

• Rough method. In this case, tools such as a sledgehammer, hammer drill, jackhammer and the like are used. In this case, it is necessary to first outline the contours and use tools to knock off the excess. Of course, the process is very labor-intensive, and there is another threat here - the formation of microcracks due to high impact loads. This may require additional finishing work and generally 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 desired shape of the contours. It also copes with reinforcement. The downside is that you have to cut on both sides, and it’s not always possible to match the cuts exactly. In addition, dry cutting leads to the formation of a large amount of dust and quickly wears out the diamond blade.
• Wet cutting. For this purpose, you can use a spray bottle and irrigate the work surface while working with an angle 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 container. With its help, you can cut an opening of the required size in one step and at the same time with minimal contamination. True, the cost of such equipment is considerable.

Basic methods of dismantling part of a wall in an opening

When carrying out such work, be sure to use personal protective equipment: goggles and a respirator, they will protect you from dust and small fragments.

How to determine the required door leaf size?

Now that you know the dimensions of your opening, you can move on to choosing the parameters of the door leaf. To do this, subtract 10-15 mm

, and then find the appropriate value in the table.

Standard sizes of Torex door leaves

*size increases due to extensions

If the specified dimensions do not suit you, you have a non-standard doorway. But don’t be afraid, you can always order the front door according to your dimensions or adjust the opening to the standard.

Panel house

Most often there is a need 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 reduce the time of dismantling the structure as much as possible. The best option, affordable, is a grinder.

First you need to completely remove the old door frame from the opening. The supporting wooden beams are also dismantled. Next, you need to make the appropriate measurements and outline the contours of the desired passage dimensions.

If an opening is being expanded in a load-bearing wall, especially one adjacent to the front door, an important aspect is the temporary strengthening of the structure. It is best to initially cut out only the top part and move the jumper. Despite the increase in width, it should go deeper into the wall by at least 15-20 cm on each side.

When expanding an opening in a panel house, an important aspect is temporary strengthening of the structure

Cutting is carried out along the intended contour, first on one side of the room, and then on the other. The most problematic areas are the exit of the reinforcement. After the metal bars are cut, you can take a sledgehammer and remove excess concrete. If the opening area is large, you need to work in squares. To do this, the wall is divided into sections and additional lines are cut. Dismantling is done from top to bottom so that the upper tiers do not fall on you during the work process.

Is changing the dimensions and location of the passage considered redevelopment?

To expand or narrow a doorway in a panel house, you will have to change the length of the adjacent wall. In the technical passport for the apartment, the door is shown schematically. Dimensions are usually not indicated, but the BTI has all the data. When expanding or narrowing the passage in the wall, the layout of the room, originally provided for in the project, is violated. Over time, if you want to sell the apartment, great difficulties will arise with the preparation of documentation.

By law, changing the size or location of the opening for a door block is considered redevelopment. It is advisable to legitimize the corresponding actions. To obtain permission to expand or narrow an interior doorway in a panel house, you need to contact the BTI.

How to increase?

So, now you know exactly how to increase the size of a doorway. But what to do if you need to reduce them? This situation may arise if you cut off the excess when expanding the space. Or you simply needed an extension to install a smaller door.

The specific method required to implement such work depends entirely on the material from which the wall is made. When building up a brick opening, bricks, cement mortar, a spatula and other auxiliary tools are used. Take accurate measurements and start laying. Please note that to increase the height of the opening, it is important to make a lintel from a wooden block and reinforcement.

If you neglect this rule, the structure may simply collapse.

When you need to reduce the opening for an interior door, you will need regular drywall. After taking all measurements, apply a special adhesive composition to the side and top of the opening. Then glue the pre-cut drywall pieces. This method is the most optimal when remodeling an apartment. It won't require a lot of time or money. To build up an opening in a wooden house, you should use timber.

And to change the size of the opening in a concrete wall, it is optimal to use cement mortar.

Recommendations for installing a door in a log house

Wood is a material whose use has been tested by time. It is precisely because of its positive characteristics that wooden houses were built long before the start of technological progress. This material was enough to not think about saving it during construction, so the walls were made of solid wood. At the very end of the construction site, window and door openings were cut out.

[Photo 1 Installation of a door in a wooden frame primarily depends on the material.]

Nowadays, they are trying to achieve the most economical option by marking all openings in advance. This method is the most beneficial for reducing the amount of unused residues. Installation of a door structure in a wooden frame is carried out only after completion of all construction work, including roofing. An important point during the construction of walls is the installation of solid logs or beams at the intended location of the opening. In this way, displacement of the crowns of the log house is prevented. After strengthening the entire structure, solid beams are cut out from the doorway.

When installing a door structure in a log house, it is necessary to take into account the material used for construction work. The important point is to wait a certain amount of time. Immediately after completion of construction, within several months, the house shrinks. The average shrinkage of the structure for the first year varies around 5-7 cm. These indicators directly depend on the characteristics of the wood and the level of constant moisture in the wood. Therefore, it is necessary to wait six months after building the house.

[Photo 2 section of the wall for the doorways.]

This is precisely the period of time required for a wooden structure to partially shrink. Taking into account this specific nature of wood, when installing the door it is necessary to adhere to a special technology, which can avoid distortions. Today we have 2 ways to install a door:

• By installing casing.
• Installation of casing using timber.

TOOLS YOU NEED FOR THE WORK

The beginning of work on installing a door in a wooden log house consists of collecting all the necessary tools. All you need is:

• hand saw;
• small hammer;
• chisels;
• milling cutter;
• building level and square;
• tape measure with fastening;
• fastening elements;
• drill;
• circular

[Photo 3 Tools for installing a door in a wooden frame.]

Using a saw, cut out the doorway. The cut is made in such a way that at the end the top and bottom of the opening are made of half bars. To check the level, construction measuring instruments will not be enough. It is better to use a rope plumb line.

A milling cutter is used to create a gap in the end part of the doorway with the specified parameters - 50*50. To adjust the size, use a chisel and chisels with different blades. A beam with a cross section of 50*50 mm is installed in the finished backlash. Its length depends on the freshness of the log house: if it has completely shrunk, then the length needs to be reduced by 2 cm, if it is fresh, by 5 cm less.

For walls made of wooden logs, one beam is used, this is quite enough for a durable structure. In the case where the construction material is rounded, a backing board is additionally used. Here the block will not be enough, because... it cannot withstand the acting torsional and bending forces, which will lead to a deformation process. The board is chosen to be 50 mm thick; its width will be equal to the thickness of the walls. Professional builders use a U-shaped channel instead of a block.

Upon completion of the work on fastening the timber, we begin to form the doorway in the log house.

CASING FROM WOOD

The timber casing method is also in demand when performing installation work. This method, just like the previous one, begins with cutting out the opening. In the same way, a spike is made, 50 mm wide and 38 mm high. The casing uses timber with parameters 100*100. In the center, a gap is made with a bruscafrez, the depth of which is 40 mm, width - 50 mm. When choosing the length of the bar, the shrinkage of the house should be taken into account.

Step-by-step action plan

First option

Let's consider the most common option - expanding the doorway in a brick wall. Before starting work, a reinforcing metal bridge must be installed above the opening.

We knock off a layer of plaster from the surface in the places where the expansion is designed and above the opening so that the lintel and the masonry above it are visible - 30 cm is enough.

We mark the future opening with chalk, stylus, or other material that leaves a noticeable mark. The width of the opening cannot exceed 2 meters because the redistribution of loads can become dangerous, or, if this occurs, then they install an additional support - a column.

If the lintel (purlin) turns out to be shorter than the width of the opening, it should be supported with racks while the work is being carried out to avoid accidental collapse.

It will absorb part of the load from the overlying structures, and you can work calmly. Its edges must extend beyond the boundaries of the future opening at a distance of at least 250 mm on each side.

Let us now consider the most popular option, when the frame is made of two paired channels No. 14-20, which are tightened together with through pins with washers and nuts.

Before installing a new lintel over the opening in the wall, seats are made - niches on both sides, immediately above the existing lintel.

The depth of the niche for installing the channel should be approximately equal to the size of the channel shelf, so that it does not protrude beyond the plane of the masonry and is subsequently hidden under a layer of plaster.

For reasons of strength, the number of studs should be at least three - with a diameter of 16 mm or more, the distance between the studs should not be more than 400 mm.

When tightening the channels for a uniform fit to the surface of the niche, an M-100 solution is placed under the walls of the channel, which fills the unevenness on the inner surface of the niche.

Holes with a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the studs are drilled in the walls of the channels. The holes on both channels must be coaxial. The channel is installed in a niche and through holes are marked in the wall, which are then drilled. After this, the jumpers are installed.

Now you can begin dismantling the masonry to widen the doorway along the markings to the foundation or floor slab.

The expansion of an opening in a brick wall is associated with obtaining smooth vertical edges of the opening being broken, which is achieved by sawing out fragments of masonry with a grinder saw with a diamond blade.

Oh, and this is a thankless task - dust is everywhere, wetting with water will not help either. You have to work in a respirator. The cutting is done, it is convenient to disassemble the masonry using a hammer drill.

If the length of the lintel is less than the width of the opening and it seems to “hang” over it, then it must be dismantled.

The next step is to install the side posts that frame the opening and rest their upper end against a metal beam—the lintel. They are made from a corner of 75-100mm. The connection with the beam is fixed by welding in the corners at the junction of the stiffeners.

The racks must be rigidly fixed in the opening, for which they are connected to each other along the thickness of the wall with strip steel, to which pointed pins made of reinforcement with a diameter of 12 mm are welded into the wall.

At the bottom of the opening, a spacer is made from a 45-50mm corner or reinforcement with a diameter of 20-25mm, which is then hidden in the thickness of the floor. All metal elements are welded together, forming a strong metal frame - the so-called “clip”.

It is also possible to expand the doorway in a brick wall with reinforcement of the lintel from two corners No. 100-150. The corners are connected to each other by tightening strips and strips. Then everything is done in the same way as described above.

We strengthen the widened opening with a corner

Where to start?

When expanding an existing opening or cutting out a new opening, you should begin by calculating the size of the opening.

As a rule, the initial dimensions are taken as the dimensions of the future window, to which are added:

• thickness of the socket (taking into account the tongue-and-groove joint);
• thickness of the sealant layer (increase the size by 5 mm);
• compensation gap (additional 60-100 mm when determining the total height of the opening).

Please note that the bottom casing strip in windows is often a window sill, the thickness of which may be greater than the thickness of the boards used to make the casing frame.

What is casing

Next, they begin to mark the contours of the openings on the walls of the log house. During this operation, we recommend that you adhere to the following rules:

• the upper and lower edges of the opening should pass through the center of the log (or cover 1/3). This is necessary for the normal operation of the casing and to prevent problems with insulation;
• It is advisable to mark horizontal lines using precise level gauges;
• Make vertical markings only along a plumb line.

If you plan to do the work yourself, you should take care in advance to prepare the appropriate equipment.

The main tool used when arranging window and door openings is a chain saw (or its electric version).

If there are many windows, and you plan to chamfer for installation of platbands, we recommend making a special device based on an angle grinder, with the help of which the time spent on this operation will be reduced significantly.