if youve never done this sort of thing best not do so by yourself. hire someone who knows what their doing. on an older home like that it might be balloon framed which makes for a trickier process of getting a proper header in.. and temporarily supporting hte floor above while you cut the wall apart to make the correct rough opening for the new door
Framing and french doors
I am new to the site, I just bought a house that was built in 1915. I want to take out a back wall in the kitchen and replace with French doors leading out to a deck I will build when it gets warmer. I really have no idea how to go about
it but want to do it and make sure it right!! Any help is appreciated thanks!!
it but want to do it and make sure it right!! Any help is appreciated thanks!!
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Would it be the same as tearing down a wall between my kitchen and dining room?? The only thing on that wall is the thermostat!
Going to be deal with a lot of issures with an older home, as mentioned, ballon walls, no bottom plate, thicker walls so you need wider jambs or jamb extentions, no header above that window, flashing under the siding.
Also the biggest issue will be the level of the deck on the other side of that wall.
It has to be at least 4" min. below the doors threshold or you can plan on damage inside the house.
Totaly differant then installing a door in a modern home.
Also the biggest issue will be the level of the deck on the other side of that wall.
It has to be at least 4" min. below the doors threshold or you can plan on damage inside the house.
Totaly differant then installing a door in a modern home.
So basically I would have to get a contractor to come out and check it all?? Does anyone have any good estimated on prices for both jobs??
No one here is going to be giving any prices, for a whole lot of reasons.
Even if they did what good would it do you?
Call around and get some real prices.
At least 90% of the sliders and french doors I see where installed wrong even by the "Pros".
Do some reseach, know how it should be done before hiring anyone.
If you know how it should be done far less likly you will fall for there BS.
Even if they did what good would it do you?
Call around and get some real prices.
At least 90% of the sliders and french doors I see where installed wrong even by the "Pros".
Do some reseach, know how it should be done before hiring anyone.
If you know how it should be done far less likly you will fall for there BS.
Alright guys I really appreciate your answers, kinda why I asked because it is such an old house and I don't wanna get started and be stuck!
Thanks
Thanks
Sucks standing there with a big hole in the wall scratching your head trying to figure out how to do it.
That's why I have no hair on the back of my head.:laughing:
That's why I have no hair on the back of my head.:laughing:
A shot from the outside of the house would help---
What is different in older houses than in todays houses---longer boards were cheap---
So if you wanted a 2 story house with a knee wall on top of the foundation---that wall was 2 1/2 stories tall----then the floor joists were added to the wall---
![]()
What is different in older houses than in todays houses---longer boards were cheap---
So if you wanted a 2 story house with a knee wall on top of the foundation---that wall was 2 1/2 stories tall----then the floor joists were added to the wall---
What you can do, strip the plaster off of that wall down to framing. You will need to go wider then the new door width, not much left so I would strip the whole wall instead of trying to patch it with new drywall later.
Then send us a photo of the wall framing and will be able to give better answers.
Would also save you money as sweat equity, if you have a contractor install the door.
Contractor comes out and looks at it as is now, will have no clue what surprises lie in the wall once he opens it up.
Contractor will love you for this, makes his job faster and easier, he can give you a decent bid because he can see what needs to be done, and jump in and go to work without spending 1/2 a day just to strip the wall and then go buy material after he sees the framing.
And this is a diy forum, you will get good advise here. Hanging doors correctly is a learned skill. And french doors really can be tricky for those that call themselves a professional carpenter.
Just not the first door to hang, if you never installed doors before.
A good chance though, you strip the wall, send us photos, will get proper advice on how to proceed, and if you are not in a big hurry, can remove the windows, board them up for weather, do most if not all of framing from inside, come back next weekend and open up the siding and hang the doors.
Then send us a photo of the wall framing and will be able to give better answers.
Would also save you money as sweat equity, if you have a contractor install the door.
Contractor comes out and looks at it as is now, will have no clue what surprises lie in the wall once he opens it up.
Contractor will love you for this, makes his job faster and easier, he can give you a decent bid because he can see what needs to be done, and jump in and go to work without spending 1/2 a day just to strip the wall and then go buy material after he sees the framing.
And this is a diy forum, you will get good advise here. Hanging doors correctly is a learned skill. And french doors really can be tricky for those that call themselves a professional carpenter.
Just not the first door to hang, if you never installed doors before.
A good chance though, you strip the wall, send us photos, will get proper advice on how to proceed, and if you are not in a big hurry, can remove the windows, board them up for weather, do most if not all of framing from inside, come back next weekend and open up the siding and hang the doors.
So just strip the inside wall? Then call a contractor?? I have never done anything like this just bought the house in oct. just want to get it fixed up and looking nice. I have plans to basically rip up carpet refinish all the hardwood floors tear one wall down put the French doors in and build a deck!!! Repaint all the rooms put all new flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms and then head upstairs and basically same up there!! I have some work ahead of me!!!funfool said:What you can do, strip the plaster off of that wall down to framing. You will need to go wider then the new door width, not much left so I would strip the whole wall instead of trying to patch it with new drywall later.
Then send us a photo of the wall framing and will be able to give better answers.
Would also save you money as sweat equity, if you have a contractor install the door.
Contractor comes out and looks at it as is now, will have no clue what surprises lie in the wall once he opens it up.
Contractor will love you for this, makes his job faster and easier, he can give you a decent bid because he can see what needs to be done, and jump in and go to work without spending 1/2 a day just to strip the wall and then go buy material after he sees the framing.
And this is a diy forum, you will get good advise here. Hanging doors correctly is a learned skill. And french doors really can be tricky for those that call themselves a professional carpenter.
Just not the first door to hang, if you never installed doors before.
A good chance though, you strip the wall, send us photos, will get proper advice on how to proceed, and if you are not in a big hurry, can remove the windows, board them up for weather, do most if not all of framing from inside, come back next weekend and open up the siding and hang the doors.
No need to touch the outside yet. I wanted to post a photo of a wall on a 100 year old house.
Everything seemed fine, and did not matter because we were adding a addition and this wall was going away. DIY does not like the format of the photo, here is a link to it.
http://i48.tinypic.com/zv518h.png
Could you imagine trying to install a exterior door in that wall?
We want to assume your house is built exactly as it should be, As a remodel carpenter, I smile when I see things were done right, so many surprises when you open a wall.
Couple weeks ago I opened a wall and installed 2 french doors side by side, 4 doors.
I new there was a electrical wire to deal with, was an outlet under the existing window.
Open the wall and find the home run to the service panel was in that wall.
This was a simple fix, but added time and money to the job.
Just remove the drywall and plaster from the inside, and the whole story will be out on the table. You will see what obstacles you need to climb over, be it electrical, plumbing, bad framing. Is all easily fixed.
My only point I am trying to make, what looks like a simple job may be simple and smile.
You are willing to get your hands dirty and jump in and work.
First step is expose the framing and let us see what you are working with.
Is no contractor you can hire with x ray vision to know what is in the wall.
Said contractor will charge you by the hour, on the remodel, or hit you high on a bid to cover any surprises he may find.
By removing the drywall yourself, you are removing the surprise factor. And saving several hours on labour for demo. But nobody here can see inside your walls either.
Everything seemed fine, and did not matter because we were adding a addition and this wall was going away. DIY does not like the format of the photo, here is a link to it.
http://i48.tinypic.com/zv518h.png
Could you imagine trying to install a exterior door in that wall?
We want to assume your house is built exactly as it should be, As a remodel carpenter, I smile when I see things were done right, so many surprises when you open a wall.
Couple weeks ago I opened a wall and installed 2 french doors side by side, 4 doors.
I new there was a electrical wire to deal with, was an outlet under the existing window.
Open the wall and find the home run to the service panel was in that wall.
This was a simple fix, but added time and money to the job.
Just remove the drywall and plaster from the inside, and the whole story will be out on the table. You will see what obstacles you need to climb over, be it electrical, plumbing, bad framing. Is all easily fixed.
My only point I am trying to make, what looks like a simple job may be simple and smile.
You are willing to get your hands dirty and jump in and work.
First step is expose the framing and let us see what you are working with.
Is no contractor you can hire with x ray vision to know what is in the wall.
Said contractor will charge you by the hour, on the remodel, or hit you high on a bid to cover any surprises he may find.
By removing the drywall yourself, you are removing the surprise factor. And saving several hours on labour for demo. But nobody here can see inside your walls either.
Ok I got ya! But none of the walls in here are drywall they are all the laff ( not sure how to spell that ) the ones in the kitchen except one wall aren't even that its board! Not sure if you can see what I mean in the pic. I don't know if that's easier to tear away from the wall or no but as you can see I do have one outlet above the windows!!funfool said:No need to touch the outside yet. I wanted to post a photo of a wall on a 100 year old house.
Everything seemed fine, and did not matter because we were adding a addition and this wall was going away. DIY does not like the format of the photo, here is a link to it.
http://i48.tinypic.com/zv518h.png
Could you imagine trying to install a exterior door in that wall?
We want to assume your house is built exactly as it should be, As a remodel carpenter, I smile when I see things were done right, so many surprises when you open a wall.
Couple weeks ago I opened a wall and installed 2 french doors side by side, 4 doors.
I new there was a electrical wire to deal with, was an outlet under the existing window.
Open the wall and find the home run to the service panel was in that wall.
This was a simple fix, but added time and money to the job.
Just remove the drywall and plaster from the inside, and the whole story will be out on the table. You will see what obstacles you need to climb over, be it electrical, plumbing, bad framing. Is all easily fixed.
My only point I am trying to make, what looks like a simple job may be simple and smile.
You are willing to get your hands dirty and jump in and work.
First step is expose the framing and let us see what you are working with.
Is no contractor you can hire with x ray vision to know what is in the wall.
Said contractor will charge you by the hour, on the remodel, or hit you high on a bid to cover any surprises he may find.
By removing the drywall yourself, you are removing the surprise factor. And saving several hours on labour for demo. But nobody here can see inside your walls either.
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There's just one of the likly goofy things you'll find when working on an old house.
Why in the world would anyone put an outlet over instead of under a window?
Right now you have paneling on the wall but there's no telling what your going to find under it.
You keep mentioning about at some point removing a wall in another area.
#1 Someone that knows what there looking at needs to figure out if it's a supporting wall, if it is and you remove it anything above it is going to at a minimum start to sag.
Why in the world would anyone put an outlet over instead of under a window?
Right now you have paneling on the wall but there's no telling what your going to find under it.
You keep mentioning about at some point removing a wall in another area.
#1 Someone that knows what there looking at needs to figure out if it's a supporting wall, if it is and you remove it anything above it is going to at a minimum start to sag.
Good pic, I think that was common in the 50's, not in 1915.
The plug up high was so you could hang a clock and plug it in.
So this is telling me that either rewired around that time, or may be an addition that was added later.
Or 100 other things that could have been done in 100 years.
What you want is a header above the new door, and should be one above that window now.
I would build the header out of 2'x12' and as you see with the outlet , the header is much higher or inadequate. ... But needs a new header anyways for the new door.
So the pic is already showing just a little funky going on, and is no way to tell what you need to do without exposing the framing. see what they did in the past, what is needed for repairs now.
Hard to say when that part of the house was built, or what codes they followed.
If not plaster or drywall, you still need to expose the framing .... rip it out!
The plug up high was so you could hang a clock and plug it in.
So this is telling me that either rewired around that time, or may be an addition that was added later.
Or 100 other things that could have been done in 100 years.
What you want is a header above the new door, and should be one above that window now.
I would build the header out of 2'x12' and as you see with the outlet , the header is much higher or inadequate. ... But needs a new header anyways for the new door.
So the pic is already showing just a little funky going on, and is no way to tell what you need to do without exposing the framing. see what they did in the past, what is needed for repairs now.
Hard to say when that part of the house was built, or what codes they followed.
If not plaster or drywall, you still need to expose the framing .... rip it out!
Right in the middle of the house?
What's above that wall?
I've found dead animals, missing or no insulation, doors and windows that were just covered over instead of being removed, termite and powder post beetles damage, wire connections with no juntion boxes, studs that did not run all the way to the top of the wall, while working on old houses.
If the whole house only has two hole outlets that can mean none of them are grounded.
What's above that wall?
I've found dead animals, missing or no insulation, doors and windows that were just covered over instead of being removed, termite and powder post beetles damage, wire connections with no juntion boxes, studs that did not run all the way to the top of the wall, while working on old houses.
If the whole house only has two hole outlets that can mean none of them are grounded.
With the french doors, is exterior wall and we know is a bearing wall.
With the other wall, can not tell from photo if it is bearing or not.
And would require someone that knows on site to inspect.
With the other wall, can not tell from photo if it is bearing or not.
And would require someone that knows on site to inspect.
Yeah that's what I figured. The guy that owned the house before I think did everything as cheap as possible. As you can see in the pic he ran the duct work up through the kitchen/dining room wall and just built a weird box around it! I guess I can just rip it down on one side and see if it is or not!! Can I just put a beam up if it is and make that work?? Plan was to tear it down and put an island/breakfast bar there!!!
The wall I want to take out is not the middle it's 8' from the very far west side wall, above it is part of the up stairs bathroom and a bedroom!joecaption said:Right in the middle of the house?
What's above that wall?
I've found dead animals, missing or no insulation, doors and windows that were just covered over instead of being removed, termite and powder post beetles damage, wire connections with no juntion boxes, studs that did not run all the way to the top of the wall, while working on old houses.
If the whole house only has two hole outlets that can mean none of them are grounded.
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