cutting internal doorway

[Gyn_Paul]

I find I have an internal wall upstairs running the length of the

house, composed of the thin terracotta blocks, which is supporting

ceiling beams (and floor of the attic). They really are beam ends

sitting on the blocks, rather than whole beams passing across.

I need to cut a new doorway in this wall but can't imagine the blocks

having enough transverse integrity to distribute the vertical load into

the usual sort of pins-through-the-wall+acroprops. I am thinking of

bracing 4 or 5 of the ceiling beams on either side of the wall to take

the load, and proping them each side.

Does that sound a likely way to go ?

Once I have the hole, I will, of course, fashion some sort of  lintel before fitting the door frame

p

[Nearly Retired (I am now)]

I think I'd follow your method - sounds OK to me. Make sure you don't just acrow off the first floor and consider propping from the ground too. You don't want the floor bending too much. I'd think about a couple of little piers or maybe a chunky door frame to take any extra load if the blocks are really that thin. Otherwise your lintel ends won't be supported by much.

As an aside, it's amazing how stiffer a wall gets with a coat of sand cement render on it.

[finisterian]

this pot brick shouldnt really be load bearing i dont think - not a thin one, is this recent work?

[Gyn_Paul]

[quote user="finisterian"]this pot brick shouldnt really be load

bearing i dont think - not a thin one, is this recent work?[/quote]

Recent work ? - Looking at the state/age of the ceiling

lath-and-plaster I should estimate it to be late '50s. There is an

existing door at the other end of this wall, and I notice the timber

sides of the door frame (covered by a thing skim coat) continue up to

the ceiling. No sign of movement or settlement there.

The joists from the wall to the centre beam, however.... now that's

another story entirely! They were nailed to the centre beam, and there

is (I discover when I pull up the floor boards) a gap of between 2 to 6

cms advancing progressively as one gets towards the A frame. 

Apparently the feet of the A frame have been making a bid for freedom

at some point in its history. It's now restrained with a transverse

steel strap which must have been added quite soon after construction

because the lathe-and-plasterwork around and below these gaps is

contiguous with no sign of repairs or later filling.

Aren't old houses fascinating ?

p