How to punch a opening in a masonry wall
We own a old all masonry home. I mean, all masonry. The exterior walls are field stone and the interior walls are brick. The home is two stories tall and the walls stack. This means that even though the structure is parallel to a wall, that wall still load bearing. We have two different challenges which are facing us:
On the exterior wall we want to remove two windows and install a large patio door. The new opening will be about 10′ wide. The wall is roughly 30″ thick at grade and thins to 18″ on the second floor. The floor structure is parallel to the wall. I will be retaining an engineer to size a piece of steel to support the new opening.
We have a interior brick wall which separates the first floor kitchen from the dining room. We want to remove as much of this wall as feasible. Again, an engineer will be retained to size the steel. The clear span will be around 12′. The floor structure is also parallel to the wall. The wall is double wyth brick and I presume there are some row locks in there to help tie things together. To provide head room, the steel will need to be installed as high as possible, preferably at floor height.
Question: in both instances, how do we temporarily support the wall until the new beam can be inserted?
I’ve done work similar to this in the past. That job involved load bearing concrete block walls with precast plank. We simply supported the plank with a beam, columns and hydraulic jacks and then knocked out the block. With the block gone, we inserted the steel, grouted the gap and then removed the supports. In this case, I have nothing to lift on as the floor structure is parallel to the walls. If we used two beams for the exterior wall, it’s possible that we can knock out half the wall (in thickness) insert the beam and then repeat for the other side. This won’t work for the brick wall though. Any suggestions????
Certified boat fetish.
Replies
Great word description but as always photos provide greater definition and thus more detailed answering.
Cheers
Not much to see as everything is covered with plaster. A photo would only show planes of white at right angles to each other.
Certified boat fetish.
Is this a Chuck Norris joke?
Could you do it in stages? Start with a small opening with a small beam. Widen the opening and place a longer beam parallel to the first beam. Repeat.
Your engineer might be of help, and you'll clearly want to hire a contractor with experience in this stuff.
Please let us know how it happens!
Scott.
Just off the top of my head. Just above where you are doing the work and installing the new header install a temporary steel beam on both sides of the wall and through bolt them together sandwiching the wall.
Will Rogers
What you do, is install 4x4's perpendicular to the wall you are supporting, above the new beam location. With the condition you described, as in the interior wall, you want the beam in the floor level, so these needles(4x4's), are going to be installed up in the second floor, with a post going down to the floor, then you will have to remove some ceiling, and continue this post down to your basement. If I could figure out how to post a drawing I would. How many of these 4x4's (you could use angle iron) you install, is a matter of taking a quess. 12' opening you say? How about every 2-1/2 feet for starters. You could request a shoring plan from your engineer. Your talking demo hammer, dust, plastic sheets, more dust, ...
What's this interior masonry wall doing anyway? Other than being a wall? You have to patch it anyway. Go up in the attic and see what it is holding up. I would entertain the idea of removing ALL of the wall above the new beam location, and just put it back with a frame wall. Not the entire wall, only the 13 feet lenthwise above the new opening .
I'm not sure how much the masonry wall is holding up. The roof is timberframed and the timbers are pointing to the masonry wall, but I can't see the connection. The prior owners exposed the framing on the first floor (that's how I know the direction of the floor joists) and the timber frame appears to extend to the ground. The brick may not be bearing, but could have been just used as a infill material. I won't actually know until I get the walls stripped.
I'm following you on needling the wall.
Certified boat fetish.
You need to get an engineer to design a shoring plan. I've done this before and when a friend asked about a similar project, that's what I told him. He ended up writing this article in JLC about it:
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/4a8177a804f32b0127170a32100a0605/Product/View/0506inst
Don't engineer this by the seat of the pants; you risk catastrophic collapse if it fails.
Is there any way I can view the article with out purchasing it?
Certified boat fetish.