Doorway in a 9" solid wall

[sparer]

Hi,
I want to knock a 30" doorway in a 9" solid load bearing wall in a Victorian terrace. It will lead to an outhouse which is to be converted.
How about two of these or can anyone recommend another lintel to use. Can the lintel sit on existing brickwork or do I need to use a padstone. I've read that 3 courses of engineering bricks can be used instead of a padstone or is that over kill?

Appreciate the help.

 

[tony1851]

The lintels will only be holding a small triangle of brickwork due to the arching effect.
Personally, I'd just use a couple of pieces of timber 100x75 - will do the job easily, and easy to fix plasterboard to.

Those concrete lintels are OK to a point, but are strictly speaking intended for building-in as work proceeds, rather than retro-fit.

You don't need padstones on that width, whatever lintel you use.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

If your doorway is 30", you are going for a 27" door?, that lintel is .9m long or 35 1/2" which gives you 5 1/2 " X 1/2 or 2 3/4" each side which is a bit short, should be 6". I would just sit the back end of the lintel on a small piece of packing to give a mortar course thickness or up to 1/2" and pack the gap under the lintel with a dryish 3:1 sharp sand mortar. I reckon with the self corbelling effect of brick I think each lintel is holding the weight of 10 brick or so and its own weight.
Frank

 

[sparer]

Thanks very much for the info guys. I didn't want to over engineer it so it's good to hear your opinions.

 

[Doggit]

You've said that the doorway is leading to an outhouse, so the implication is that it'll end up being an internal doorway rather than external, so in many ways, a treated wooden lintel would be okay, but I'd rather go for the concrete ones instead. You don't need a padstone or engineering bricks on that width though. You could get away with 4" on either side, but 6" support is more sensible. Get a pair of 1.2m lintels, and cut them down to 1.05m with a stone blade in an angle grinder - stone blades go through metal as well. Cut a section out of the mortar course about 3 courses above your opening, and use a strong boy on an acro supported on a short scaffold board. Use a mortar rake or angle grinder to get the bricks out carefully rather than using a hammer, and take out enough bricks to get the lintels in, and then bed them in with the 3 in 1 mix, but remember to push the lintel to top of the bricks rather than the bottom, as it's 10mm thinner than a standard brick - easier to pack either side up by 10mm rather than do a thick course of mortar above the lintel. Then reinstate any dropped bricks above the lintel and use a few bits of slate to pack out any loose bits. Then leave it a day or two to go off before you take out the door opening.

 

[noseall]

Easy peasy...

Before...

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• noseall
• 12 Jun 2015
• 1

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• noseall
• 12 Jun 2015
• 1

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• noseall
• 12 Jun 2015
• 1

after......

Whiteroom6

• noseall
• 6 Jan 2016

 

[Doggit]

Nice job, well done. So why post the thread when it's already been done.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Nice job, well done. So why post the thread when it's already been done.

Check the thread again Doggit...

 

[sparer]

Looks like i'm worrying about nothing. It all looks easily doable. Thanks for the pics noseall.

 

[Doggit]

Sorry, just spotted my mistake.