Bathroom Door Dilemma

[Josh9282]

Hello. First house, first post, please be kind!

I wanted to replace the downstairs bathroom door in my 1982 split level terrace with a single pocket door system. Upon stripping the adjacent wall I found a second door frame from when this was two separate rooms (with the door still in situ - plaster board over one side, tiled over the other - don't you just love the 80s?)

It looks like the door frames were built first, then the two lengths of wood on top to take the weight of the breeze blocks placed on top of that. The breeze blocks go up to the rafters, but the rafters do not sit on the blocks, and the beams above my bathroom run alongside the wall, so I thought it may not be load bearing.

What are my options for removing the door frames without having the breeze blocks come tumbling down? The pocket door system I was looking at was 2040 high, but the existing door frames are only 2030, so I'd have to take a cm out of the lower wood beam if possible. I also wouldn't want the weight of the breeze blocks to warp the steel pocket door kit - or would this actually offer support?

Apologies for a lengthy post. I wanted to include as much info as possible to get the best advice. Thanks for looking.

 

[cdbe]

Personally I would fill in whatever of the old opening I didn't need with blockwork and replace all the timber with a concrete lintel. If you do it in the correct order you could probably get away without props but for peace of mind you could just hire a couple of acrows and strongboys.