Knocking hole in garage for new door

[SuperChump]

Hi,

I'm about to put a hole in the rear wall of my garage for a door into the garden and wondered if anybody would like to give me some advice on the do's/dont's and anything else you can think of...

The garage is about 6 months old (new build house) and I have the complete door & door frame ready to go - just need to cut the hole.

The rear wall is not supporting any load what-so-ever (there is an inch gap from the top of the bricks to the beam) so I haven't got that to worry about. The wall itself is a single skin brick wall, with a DPC about 2 bricks higher than the garage floor. There is a block pillar (from what I remember is supporting the beam) in each of the corners of the garage to which the wall adjoins.

My current plan is to take an angle grinder with diamond disk and cut a hole in the wall just bigger than the door frame. Put door and frame in wall, screw frame into place (the side with the hinges will be screwed into supporting block work pillar), and then re-point the wall to finish off.

When cutting the hole, should I go down to the DPC and sit the door frame directly on top of this or go one brick higher?

Although I plan to be highly accurate with my hole cutting I know that the hole will not be perfectly square. How do I ensure that the door is hung correctly? The door & door frame came together and the door is pre-hung in the frame and of PVC construction.

Obviously I'm not a builder by trade, but I'm also not a complete building novice. Unfortunately all my building experience is in constructing agricultural outbuildings, and these did not need to be presentable - where as this does!

Cheers,

Rich

 

[ColJack]

won't you need a lintle to support the rest of the bricks..?

door frames are squared up by using shims to pack it out...

 

[SuperChump]

Well this is a good point, and one that I've been toying with.

Due to the height of the wall (not that tall), if I put the door directly on the DPC there will only be enough room for a single layer of bricks. If I put a lintel in it will only be to fill the hole and will not support anything.

Rich

 

[ub7rm]

Don't mean to come over all electrical forum but have you notified your building department? In Scotland you need to get a building warrant to do what you are doing - not sure if its different elsewhere.

Also I think there is some regulation that means the floor in your garage has to be lower than the floor in your house incase say there is a fuel leak or something from your car...

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Edit: Sorry just re-read your post and you are knocking through to the garden. Never mind

 

[SuperChump]

Are there regulations that I need to worry about? The garage is a stand alone garage at the bottom of the garden.

Cheers,

Rich

 

[Alastairreid]

Are there regulations that I need to worry about? The garage is a stand alone garage at the bottom of the garden.

Cheers,

Rich

No!

 

[mikeg68]

Cut the new door hole slightly bigger than the new doorframe, pack out the space between the wall and frame to get it even. Sit the door on a secure base. the dpc won't be an issue as water can't travel up a pvc door.
Depending on the height of brick above the door, you may need a small lintel above the door to lay the bricks onto. Just make sure you dont cut a perfect hole out and then have bricks falling on your head from the upper unsupported part.


Pics would be good as you go along. We like pics here!