Q about window/hatch in plasterboard wall

[roundthebend]

Hi

Our dining room had a glazed opening through to the sitting room. I think it must have been retro fitted to the house to let some light through. We hated it so at the weekend I started a project to remove it and I'm now left with a chunky wooden sill, two chunky wooden uprights (1 on each side) and a chunky wooden "lintel".

Now, the plan is to put 4 vertical box sections into this gap to create 5 slits in the wall which we can then place candles and ornaments into. It should look a bit more modern yet still allow light through and provide some division between the rooms.

Now, with the glass removed I'm wondering if I might make the opening a little larger. The easiest thing to do is going to be to remove the existing wood and replace it all with thinner plasterboard. The uprights and lintel are 25mm thick each so that would give me an extra 32mm width using 9mm board (2 x 25 - 2 x 9).

The sill is 40mm thick so I'd get an extra 47mm in height.

Here's the question: are those bits of wood likely to be providing some kind of support to the surrounding plasterboard or is it simply a tidy way of creating the box into which the window was installed? The pieces appear to be screwed into place which suggests that there are beams inside the wall anyway.

Doing this will also make the plasterers job easier rather than trying to plaster onto hardwood.

 

[noseall]

If it was me i would start from scratch with this entire section.

If you are set on having vertical slots in the wall then the simplest way would be to incorporate boarded and skimmed slots (i.e. lined with plasterboard and not timber) that are accommodated between the stud uprights, thus leaving the integrity of the stud wall intact.

These slots are then painted the same as the rest of the plastered finish with emulsion.

There is no need for timber linings or headers or sills at all.

You could however bed say a fancy limestone tile as a sill piece on which to stand the ornaments save dirtying or scuffing the paint.

 

[roundthebend]

Thanks for the input.

Are you suggesting that I remove the wood work remnants, then remove the existing plasterboard (at least on one side of the wall) to install vertical studs where the slots should be and then board over them ready for skimming? That's quite a big task which won't get go ahead from SWMBO.

My question is whether or not the existing woodwork is likely to be giving vital support to the plasterboard around it. I suspect it isn't as each board will be fastened to studs within the wall.

In which case, I'll remove the vertical woodwork, and the "lintel" piece and probably keep the sill as a way of providing a solid base upon which to attach my new boarded slots and also as a less fragile surface for placing candles etc.