Before I smash a big hole in my living room wall....

...is there anything I need to be aware of?

My house was one of hundreds built from the same set of plans in 1906 when the local iron foundry company commissioned the construction of a whole suburb of town for the work force to live in. Both my sisters also live in houses that came off the same plan. That's how I know that there used to be another door in my living room, connecting it to one of the small back rooms, off to the side of the kitchen.

I know the door hasn't been bricked up in my house because you can knock on the plasterboard that covers it, and there is clearly nothing substantial behind it.

I intend to reopen this door. The room it leads to would make an ideal play room, if it was not for the fact that currently our little lad would have to go out of the main living room door, along the passage, then through the kitchen to get to it. He'd be a bit isolated. Whereas if I reopen the door, he will be practically in the living room when he's in the intended play room.

I'm tempted to just take a hammer to it. I reckon I could be through in minutes. Then all I'd need to do is clean up the edges and redecorate that bit of the wall, and put a light door on it. Half a day's work even for an amateur, in theory.

Would anyone like to offer their wise words before I attempt it?

I wont be doing it tonight

 

Well that was a thread title that got me straight in thinking you were undergoing an extreme mental torment. Just about to smash the house up due to a domestic.

So that worked:D

Just be aware of any electrics & plumbing that might be concealed within the studwork and any pre 1980's artex which could contain Asbestos.

 

I had a similar issue when we moved into our house about 25 years ago.

The "Stud Wall" when removed uncovered the old door into the kitchen, complete and intact.
The previous owners, we were advised, made a habit of changing the layout so didn't remove the door assy. Every so often they re-introduced the kitchen door (why?, you ask - how the hell would I know!)

It might be worth the effort to open the wall to see if the original door has been removed or just blanked. There may be a worktop in the way in the kitchen if the reason for the loss of door was to improve the kitchen workspace - but you wil know that!

 

There's no sign of what I would recognise as artex, so probably no asbestos risk.

As far as I can tell, there's no reason for their to be any plumbing or electrics behind there. The fire and back boiler are between the intended doorway and the the point where the gas and electrics come into the house, so in my naivety, I'd expect the pipes and wires would take the most direct practical route. But of course I could be wrong about that.

There's no kitchen units on the other side, it leads to a separate room that so far has only been used as a storage room, which is a shame, because its quite a nice little room overlooking the back garden.

Its not a supporting wall, or certainly it wasn't originally.

John, not sure what you mean by this bit:

You'll have to forgive me, I know nothing about this sort of thing. What is a lintel? How would I know if there is still one there? What if there isn't?

 

Only Pic I can find of a lintel at this time of night.



Big brown thing across the reveal, supports the rest of the masonry above.

 

A dedicated beer fridge. I hope I find one of them when I knock it through

Seriously though, thanks for that, understand what you mean.

I'm sat right next to the target, and I've just pushed it with my hand. With minimal force, I can move it. It flexes quite easily, so now I'm wondering if its even plasterboard. I'm starting to wonder if its just quarter inch ply there because I didn't think plasterboard was flexible. In any case, the fact that it moves so freely suggests to me that it is literally just the doorway covered up and decorated over.

In fact, as I type, the wife is telling me off for knocking it. Having said "it looks like you're going to punch a whole in it any second", she has placed ideas into my head. I will resist temptation, but I am now convinced it is ply rather than plasterboard. Especially since the wife ran round to the said little room and started knocking back at me, so I knocked harder and harder until the whole former doorway was visibly flexing behind the wallpaper

All that said, I'm guessing (hoping) that the original load bearing stuff is still all in place.

 

Now I've started something. The wife, who is a girl, is pushing on the wall and stating quite categorically "no, that's definitely ply".

 

I'm glad the wife is a girl, thats put a few issues to rest

Probably nothing to worry about then.

Dedicated beer fridge has been nicked by brother in law.

Used to be bait fridge as well.

 

since it may be plasterboard, why not try a utility knife? It will not leave rough edges a hammer will, and its more accurate, just don't use a metal handled one just in case.

Oh check if there are any electrical sockets near by.

 

Could be just the architrave been removed(decorative wood around edge)and hardboarded over with door removed if you are lucky.cut around edge with stanley knife then hole to get grip and one yank game over!

 

Thanks all.

I now have formulated a cunning plan.

Tomorrow I am going to drill a small hole in the wall in the other room, the small room on the other side of the boarded up doorway. I'll be able to tell be the feel of the drill going in, and the dust coming out, what material I'm drilling into.

If its plasterboard on that side, I'll cut a hole in it with the stanley knife big enough to stick my head in to have a proper look. If its ply or hardboard I'll do the same, but with the jigswaw. I'll pinch the wife's latex washing gloves to do it in case I go through a mains wire

Once I've done that, it wont be too urgent to carry on, as the room is hardly used anyway, so I'll have time to formulate a phase 2 of my plan based on my preliminary survey.

 

Damn I was about to suggest you attack the doorway from the other room, so as not to leave damage in your living room,
Simple as you say drill first, if it is plaster board, then just take up the Stanley blade and cut it out

Good luck in your ventures
Hardboard was a more convenient and accessable than plaster board years ago

Jack McH

 

I'm surprised no-one has already mentioned that in just about any DIY 'shed', for about £10, often less, you can buy a thing called a 'Wire, pipe and stud detector' - a small, often battery operated gadget, that locates hidden ceiling joists, wall studding, power cables, gas and water pipes. Select which one of these you want to 'detect', run the gadget along the wall and it will 'bleep' or 'flash' (depending on the type you buy) to indicate what's behind or beneath.

Just because someone may have done a 'Barry Bucknell' and covered up a doorway with a bit of plywood or hardboard, doesn't necessarily mean they didn't take the opportunity to run a bit of cable behind it first.

(Just as a BTW: one such gadget proved invaluable when we were 'DIYing' in our first - open-plan house - where someone had covered in the back of the staircase and, before they did, had dropped an electricity cable down behind it. Clearly, they subsequently decided not to use it and had merely left it hanging - trouble was they'd run a spur from an upstairs power point and the whole ruddy cable was 'live' ).

Before you go making any typical amateur 'I'm going to take a hammer to that' type DIY mistakes, if your sisters live in similar/identical houses, why not do a bit of preparation and measure their walls (or phone them and get them to measure) where the doorway is/was. Then, having ascertained roughly where the centre of the door is, start from the non-living room side, (as has already been suggested) and use a utility knife to make one or more exploratory holes - even just scrape away some of the paint/paper and plaster to see what's behind it before making holes.

And please, don't assume that just because there was/is a doorway there, that it isn't a supporting wall - my house and I guess millions of others have doors in supporting walls. I doubt, if the door was removed, anyone would have gone to the trouble (or indeed been stupid enough) to remove the lintel, but you may well find they've removed the door frame.

All I can say is, I think you're being a bit optimistic if you're going to do it in 'half a day'.

PS - I guess you already know, but I'd suggest this is not the way to test the wall's construction → :wallbang: !!

 

I would be very surprised if the door frame has been removed as they would have had to put studding in to secure the plasterboard/plywood/hardboard.
Just cut the wallpaper and scribe the panel on the small room side hole in the board to get purchase and 1 yank and its done!!
Quick cuppa and bacon sarnie then do the otherside,replace architrave sand and paint jobs a good un.