Hello everyone,
We have just had some structural alterations made to our property to create a large open plan kitchen diner area. As part of the works, an opening has been made in the exterior wall of an existing lean too single story extension for a set of 3.1m wide bifold doors that are bottom running.
The construction of this extension is a cavity wall with a wooden frame internal structure and blockwork outer, so we have the existing sistered 2x6s, soon to be reinforced with steel angle acting as the load bearing lintel on the inner wall at the opening.
However, due to a low level window on the second floor of the property and the resultant roof pitch, the outer wall does not have any block courses above the openings for the windows and doors. Where the existing windows are, there are timber frame cavity lintels in place, but there is nothing holding them down on the outer course, except the soffit boards that rest on them and the metal plates that are hammered in on the upstands to prevent twisting.
The existing windows were not fixed to these mechanically, but were tacked to them using expanding foam adhesive. So my question is, whilst bottom running, the bifold doors need something for the top of the frame to be fixed into if we are to install them in the outer wall as planned, but I am unsure how to provide something secure for the fitters to screw to as the existing timber frame cavity lintels are not secured in place.
My initial thought was to remove the existing cavity lintel and laminate some timbers together, attaching them onto the internal 6x4 timber lintel so that they bridge the gap to the outer wall, however with the angle of the rafters, this would be quite fiddly and would require chamfered cuts to the bridging timbers.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
We have just had some structural alterations made to our property to create a large open plan kitchen diner area. As part of the works, an opening has been made in the exterior wall of an existing lean too single story extension for a set of 3.1m wide bifold doors that are bottom running.
The construction of this extension is a cavity wall with a wooden frame internal structure and blockwork outer, so we have the existing sistered 2x6s, soon to be reinforced with steel angle acting as the load bearing lintel on the inner wall at the opening.
However, due to a low level window on the second floor of the property and the resultant roof pitch, the outer wall does not have any block courses above the openings for the windows and doors. Where the existing windows are, there are timber frame cavity lintels in place, but there is nothing holding them down on the outer course, except the soffit boards that rest on them and the metal plates that are hammered in on the upstands to prevent twisting.
The existing windows were not fixed to these mechanically, but were tacked to them using expanding foam adhesive. So my question is, whilst bottom running, the bifold doors need something for the top of the frame to be fixed into if we are to install them in the outer wall as planned, but I am unsure how to provide something secure for the fitters to screw to as the existing timber frame cavity lintels are not secured in place.
My initial thought was to remove the existing cavity lintel and laminate some timbers together, attaching them onto the internal 6x4 timber lintel so that they bridge the gap to the outer wall, however with the angle of the rafters, this would be quite fiddly and would require chamfered cuts to the bridging timbers.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Thanks