Slightly widening doorway in hall

[JCGD]

Hey,

We are looking to very slightly widen the doorway in our hall. We will also be removing the doorframe and replacing the standard door with a sliding door (not a pocket door - it runs on a rail at the top of the wall).

The current doorway without the doorframe is approx 830mm.

For the door we have chosen, the recommended minimum opening is 900mm, so we would be looking roughly at 35mm removed at each side.

Just wondering if this can be done easily, bearing in mind that this is a solid internal wall and the house is a bungalow.

I have attached pics for reference.

If this can be done, what is the best way to remove the material?

 

[George_engineer]

You may get the extra width by the removing the door liner and repaling with a thinner door liner.

If you need to remove brickwork then potentially a new lintel will be needed.

Crowbar for the timber door liner. Masonry saw (dusty!) for the brickwork.

 

[JCGD]

You may get the extra width by the removing the door liner and repaling with a thinner door liner.

If you need to remove brickwork then potentially a new lintel will be needed.

Crowbar for the timber door liner. Masonry saw (dusty!) for the brickwork.

Hello, we will be removing the door liner (I'm assuming this is the wooden frame). This is roughly what it would look like.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Chopping the brickwork is a lot of effort for 60/70mm.

For the photo you have posted, you won't have/need any door frame, you might find that there are some packers behind the frame that may give you a bit more width, but won't be more than 8/10mm per side.

As George has posted, you might need a new lintel, and plasterworks etc.

 

[kp00110]

If you are going for the above, maybe you could delete the door liner entirely and just plaster the brick reveals - much cleaner look and save that extra space

 

[JCGD]

If you are going for the above, maybe you could delete the door liner entirely and just plaster the brick reveals - much cleaner look and save that extra space

Yep that's the plan. The liner will be removed completely to allow for the sliding door and the brick reveals would be plastered accordingly. So the only thing I guess would be to determine if the lintel spans far enough to chop 35mm on each side before plastering.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Pull some plaster off and have a look, would have thought there is 100mm bearing on each end.
Is the wall load bearing? I see you are in bungalow, so there probably isn't lots of brick above.

 

[JCGD]

Pull some plaster off and have a look, would have thought there is 100mm bearing on each end.
Is the wall load bearing? I see you are in bungalow, so there probably isn't lots of brick above.

I think the wall is bearing, the roof joists run perpendicular to this wall, so it appears they are resting on it.

 

[big-all]

why is there a minimum opening size ??
Surely it would be the space required for the door to fully clear the opening ??

 

[JCGD]

why is there a minimum opening size ??
Surely it would be the space required for the door to fully clear the opening ??

It's a sliding door, this is from the catalogue:

 

[big-all]

i am assuming its fully for aesthetic reasons so rails off the door look in proportion ??

 

[JCGD]

i am assuming its fully for aesthetic reasons so rails off the door look in proportion ??

Most likely, I'm sure it would still function the same but might not look the best with the opening being narrower than the recommended.

 

[Mr Chibs]

Aesthetics then. Save yourself the grief for 35mm per side. After all it does only say recommended opening.

 

[big-all]

at least you now know it's a trade-off between form and function
do they not have other sizes perhaps 100mm narower ??

 

[JCGD]

at least you now know it's a trade-off between form and function
do they not have other sizes perhaps 100mm narower ??

Nah unfortunately not, all standard widths.

I'm not too worried about creating a mess tbh, it's going to have to be plastered anyway due to door liner deletion. So it's just about getting tips on how to widen the opening.