Angled door accessing under my stairs.. advice

[Dougie212]

Hi There

I am looking at trying to use the space under my stairs as storage. Only problem is at present is that the only way into it is from the side. Currently there is a wall in the way.

I'm looking for advice as to whether it is as simple as putting a hole in the wall and installing an angled frame and door? I've already checked things like electric/heating etc and all is clear.

I am just wondering if installing a small lintel above the doorway would be best practice or not. My thinking is that the hole for the door is not going to be overly big, and the wall is only down stairs and doesn't continue upstairs and so maybe a lintel isn't needed, but obviously if advised otherwise then I'll put one in.

Your advice in the process would be much appreciated!!

Thankyou

Duncan

 

[Blagard]

Hi,

A sketch of the arrangement would help to understand what you have and what you want to do. The wall that is only downstairs could very easily be supporting parts of the floor upstairs, so you need to find out.

 

[^woody^]

Normally, stair flights are only supported at the top where they are fixed to the floor joists and these walls are merely partitions to block off the space beneath the stairs and not load bearing

You can remove all of it, or if you remove part of it then you would need something to hold up any bricks above any door opening. A substantial frame may hold the brickwork above, but you risk the wall cracking due to the vibration from the door.

Depending on the area, it may be worthwhile removing all of the brickwork and putting a timber frame back in rather than messing about cutting an opening, making it good around a frame and supporting the bricks while a lintel is installed

In bringing this area into use for storage, then you should fit a fire protection soffit to the underside of the stairs - plasterboard and skim or something like masterboard