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Whether the siding of a house is wood, aluminum, stucco, or brick, its basic structure is probably frame; that's , it has walls of wood studs and plates. You can add a new door or window opening to any frame house with the techniques shown here. A more complex procedure is required in houses with solid brick or concrete structural walls, which are rare today. Positioning the Opening: The choice of a location for the opening can involve compromises. Inside the house you may want the new window or door to fit a decorating plan or a traffic pattern; outside, it may have to align with existing openings. Before settling on placement, check for plumbing or electric lines; if lines are present, either move them or choose a new location. If you will be cutting through a brick-veneer wall, simplify the work by placing the edges of an opening along mortar lines where possible. Special Cases: Consult a professional if you plan an opening wider than 40” in a brick-veneer wall or in any bearing wall. Even a smaller opening in a bearing wall can cause sags or cracks during construction; avoid such problems with a temporary support wall built about 2’ inside the house. Shoring may also be needed for openings in an area containing a heavy steel or timber beam rather than conventional studs; get professional advice on how best to provide support. Making the Opening: Cut through walls covered in wood, aluminum, and stucco as illustrated in the three steps at right. A brick-veneer wall calls for a slightly different procedure. For such a wall, remove the interior and mark the exterior as in Steps 1 and 2, then break through the brick and install a steel lintel; you can buy lintels precut from a steel supplier. Complete the opening by removing any sheathing from behind the bricks as described in Step 3. Framing Considerations: Although the temporary removal of studs within the opening will not endanger the wall structure, you must install a frame with a sturdy header as a permanent support for the wall above. Instead of the single 2-by-4 that would be used over an interior door, you will need two pieces of 2-by-6 or larger stock, with a 0.5” plywood filler nailed in between. If the opening is in a nonbearing wall, the size of the stock depends on the width of the opening (chart, below). In a bearing wall, other factors such as the type of roof and the number of stories in the house complicate the choice of header size for even a narrow opening; consult your local building department. WARNING! Before cutting through the wall, check it for asbestos and lead as explained earlier. TOOLS:
MATERIALS
SAFETY FIRST: For demolition work, wear a dust mask, goggles, and work gloves. A long-sleeved shirt, pants, and sturdy shoes will protect against minor cuts and bruises. Replace the dust mask with a respirator when cutting through bricks with a power saw. When chiseling bricks out of the wall, wear a hard hat to protect your head from falling bricks. HEADER SIZES FOR A NONBEARING WALL Maximum span | Board size 36” | 2x6 5’ | 2x8 66” | 2 x 10 8’ | 2x12 Opening the interior. Consult the chart at left to find the right board size for a header over an opening in a non- bearing wall. For most openings, 2-by-6s will do. In the case of an opening wider than 3’ — for a picture window or a patio door, perhaps—a larger header is required. CUTTING A NEAT HOLE 1. Opening the interior. • Mark the rough location of the opening, then remove full sections of baseboard and molding from the working area. • With a saber saw or a circular saw set to the depth of the wall covering, cut through the plaster or wallboard from floor to ceiling just inside the studs to each side of the working area. • Use a pry bar and your hands to rip away wallboard or plaster and lath inside the lines you have cut; you will need tin snips to cut away metal lath. • Remove any insulation inside the wall. 2. Marking the opening. • For a new door, mark the level of the top of the soleplate on the outside wall, measuring from a reference point—either a nearby door or window, or a pilot hole drilled through the wall. • Mark the wall 1” lower to indicate the height of the subfloor. • From the subfloor line, measure up and mark a line at the height of the doorjamb; in measuring, include the exterior casing, plus - inch for clearance. • Mark one side of the opening by connecting the top line and the one for the subfloor, using a plumb line or a level. • Mark the top and the other side of the opening, measuring the width of the door between the outside edges of the casings and adding - inch for clearance. • Remove the wall covering inside the marked perimeter, but leave the sheathing in place. To mark for a wood window, measure width as for a door and height from the top of the casing to the bottom of the sill, al lowing inch for clearance. For a vinyl window, mark the opening according to the manufacturer’s instructions. 3. Cutting the sheathing. Create an opening in the sheathing just large enough to slide the door or window jamb through, proceeding as follows: • Measure the back of the top and side casing of the door or window. • Mark and cut a hole in the sheathing that much smaller than the opening in the siding. For a door, cut away the bottom of the sheathing all the way down to the bottom of the cut in the siding. If the opening is for a window leave enough to fit behind the lip of the sill. 4. Preparing the interior. • Inside the house, saw through the middle of any studs in the wall opening. • Use a pry bar to lever them away from the remaining exterior sheathing; try not to tear the sheathing near the edges of the opening. • Pull the studs away from the top plate and soleplate. BUILDING A ROUGH FRAME 1. Erecting the frame. Install king studs and jack studs at the left and right of the sheathing opening, using 2 nails. The jack studs should stand behind the sheathing that protrudes into the exterior opening, and their tops should be even with the top of the sheathing opening. 2. Making the header. • Consult the chart for the proper board size for the header, and cut two header boards to fit horizontally between the king studs. • Insert 4” fillers between the header boards—scrap plywood will do—to make the header the proper thickness; nail the header together with 3.5” nails. • Set the header on edge on the jack studs and fasten it in place with two 3.5” nails driven through the king studs into the header. • Fit cripple studs between the header and top plate at each point where a regular stud was removed, and toenail them in place with 2.5” nails. 3. Finishing the rough frame. If the opening is for a door, complete the rough framing by cutting away the soleplate from between the insides of the jack studs. • For a window opening, toenail a sill—a 2-by-4 on its side—between the jack studs just behind the bottom of the sheathing opening. • Position cripple studs between the bottom of the sill and the soleplate at each point where a regular stud was removed. • Drive 3.5” nails through the sill into the tops of the cripple studs, and toenail the bottoms of the cripple studs to the soleplate with 2.5” nails. BREAKING THROUGH BRICK VENEER 1. Scoring the brickwork. Cutting through brick requires a circular saw outfitted with a masonry blade (photo). • Open the interior of the wall, then mark the exterior opening as described in Steps 1 and 2. • Start the saw and gradually work the blade into the wall along one of the side lines of the opening. • Move the saw slowly along the mark, stopping frequently to let the blade cool. 2. Cutting a lintel channel. As you cut the channel, a few of the bricks above may tumble out. • Using a cold chisel and maul—or a hammer drill—break up the mortar around the center brick in the course above the cut that marks the top of the opening. Then fracture the brick and remove the pieces. • To provide shoulders for a precut steel lintel to rest on, repeat the process to open a lintel channel one brick high that extends at least one half brick be yond each side of the opening. 96 3. Extending the opening. Save the bricks you remove; you will need some of them to re-brick the wall above the lintel. Remove two courses of brick beneath the lintel channel out to the edges of the opening. To break off half a brick at the side of the opening, wedge a cold chisel, or a broad-bladed mason’s chisel called a brick set, into the saw cut with its bevel facing the inside of the opening and rap it sharply with a maul. 4. Setting the lintel. • Chip any mortar from the shoulders of the lintel channel. • Tip a steel lintel into the channel as shown above, setting the edge of the lintel flush with the face of the wall. If you find that wall ties—short lengths of metal rib bon that join the brick to the wall stud ding—interfere with the placement of the lintel, cut them with a cold chisel. 5. Replacing brickwork. Use a cold chisel to remove old mortar from the bricks you reuse, and scrub them with a moistened wire brush—they should be damp but not wet. Cut bricks as explained below. • Working from one end of the lintel to the other, apply mortar to each end and the top of a brick and slide it onto the lintel. • Replace in the same manner any bricks above the opening that may have fallen. You may need to adjust the thickness of mortar joints to align these bricks with their respective courses in the wall. 6. Completing the opening. Working from top to bottom, and from the center to the sides, remove bricks to complete the opening. Cut half bricks at the lines as described in Step 3. SPLITING BRICKS: To cut a brick crosswise, first draw a mark across it at the desired position. Then score it by tapping a brick set or cold chisel along the mark with a hammer. Place the brick on a bed of sand and break it at the mark with a sharp blow of the hammer and chisel. |
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