Hi all,
I have widened a doorway in a solid partition wall that "tied" (*) in with my side of the party wall, essentially removing the partition and leaving a gap in my leaf of the cavitied party wall. All blockwork is 1950s/60s cinderblock, with slotted voids running vertically inside the block. Rock hard, but brittle and crumbly.
*as you will see in the photos and diagram, it's not tied in 'dovetail' style, but rather inserted in, with the party wall butting up against it.
Before:
During:
After removal I was left with a gap in my leaf of the party wall. I wanted to knock out the bricks standing on end to create a key for joining the two walls together. I drilled around them...:
...and then proceeded to knock out the top two. However in doing that, the blockwork below crumbled, nullifying my plans to make a fingered joint.
This diagram sums it up:
A couple of detailed photos:
Left side:
Right side:
All:
How best to close this gap? It seems if i keep drilling and knocking, the blockwork will just crumble irregularly and I won't be able to tie new blockwork in like I had hoped.
So as I see it I have the following options:
Yes, I have sorted out party wall matters with my neighbours.
Yes, I had structural engineer calculate new lintel.
Yes, I have building control approval for commencement. (He was really unhelpful about giving advice prior to commencement - said he couldn't advise how to do the job so not sure he'd give me his advice now... thought that was his role?
Thanks for any advice/help.
I have widened a doorway in a solid partition wall that "tied" (*) in with my side of the party wall, essentially removing the partition and leaving a gap in my leaf of the cavitied party wall. All blockwork is 1950s/60s cinderblock, with slotted voids running vertically inside the block. Rock hard, but brittle and crumbly.
*as you will see in the photos and diagram, it's not tied in 'dovetail' style, but rather inserted in, with the party wall butting up against it.
Before:
During:
After removal I was left with a gap in my leaf of the party wall. I wanted to knock out the bricks standing on end to create a key for joining the two walls together. I drilled around them...:
...and then proceeded to knock out the top two. However in doing that, the blockwork below crumbled, nullifying my plans to make a fingered joint.
This diagram sums it up:
A couple of detailed photos:
Left side:
Right side:
All:
How best to close this gap? It seems if i keep drilling and knocking, the blockwork will just crumble irregularly and I won't be able to tie new blockwork in like I had hoped.
So as I see it I have the following options:
- No guts no glory: stop being a wimp and keep smashing until I get good enough fingers.
- I'm in way over my head - call in the pros.
- Something else?
Yes, I have sorted out party wall matters with my neighbours.
Yes, I had structural engineer calculate new lintel.
Yes, I have building control approval for commencement. (He was really unhelpful about giving advice prior to commencement - said he couldn't advise how to do the job so not sure he'd give me his advice now... thought that was his role?
Thanks for any advice/help.
Last edited: