Widening an opening in (former exterior) brick wall

8 years ago

Hi remodel experts!

I'm contemplating an upcoming kitchen remodel and am trying to arm myself with information for when I start to talk to contractors.

Background: Our house is a 1960, single story brick ranch with a full basement. On the back of the house, a previous owner has added a family room addition (single story plus new basement space. The addition has a gabled roof joining up perpendicularly with the roof of the existing house, but I have no idea what construction methods were used to attach the old part of the house to the new addition. The wall between the former back of the house and the new family room is around 12 inches thick, so I surmise they left the former exterior brick intact and added studs and wallboard on the addition-side of the wall. To access the family room, there is a 4 foot wide doorway connecting to the kitchen (this cased opening is where I can tell the wall is 12" thick between the 2 rooms). The brick itself is laid in such a way where every few courses, the bricks are turned 90 degrees (I presume this means structural brick, and not brick veneer).

Our project: We wish to extend the existing 4 foot opening to around 12 feet to give more open-ness between the kitchen and family room. I'm ok with keeping a header beam and casing the opening, but if a recessed beam is possible, I will consider it, depending on cost.

Assuming that whatever contractor I go with figures out the correct load for calculating the beam needed and also assuming there IS brick in the wall between the two rooms, what else do I need to look out for? Above the new opening there will likely be a few courses of bricks remaining (8 foot ceilings, 80" tall opening). Should those bricks remain and shored up with a lintel? Or, should all brick be removed above the opening? Are there any other questions I should be asking as I talk to potential contractors?

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to stuff like this, so i'm trying to get as much information as possible to make sure my house doesn't crumble around me, lol.

Your thoughts are appreciated!

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Comments (5)

PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
8 years ago
Before all the engineer advocates get started, you need to research remodeling contractors more than how it's done. An experienced remodeler has done this job before and will know immediately if a stamped engineering drawing will be required by inspection. If so he's probably got connections.
michey1st_gw
Original Author
8 years ago
Will definitely look for a guy that has done similar and has contacts in place to (hopefully) do it right. There will be an engineer involved, I'm sure. I guess I was just trying to find out what the right methodology to carry out something like this is so I can judge the skill level/know-how of potential contractors. So, if one guy says "we will take off all the brick" and another guy says "you need a lintel, leave the brick" who to believe? Realizing it's likely different from case to case, maybe such generalizations can't be made?

Perhaps I'm putting the cart before the horse and imagining problems that won't happen, lol. Wouldn't be the first time!! thanks for jumping in, Joseph!
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klem1
8 years ago
"So, if one guy says "we will take off all the brick" and another guy says "you need a lintel, leave the brick" who to believe?"

In conventional construction brick lends no structral support so I see no reason to install a lintel to hold it up unless it looks good. If the brick is indeed incased inside wall that hints at improper construction. Doesn't guarrantee it,just hints at it. From the standpoint of increasing width of opening,that may be better. Here's why. I suspect the addition has a stand alone wall sitting beside origional wall. If that's the case,you will of course need two headers but they can be much lighter,thus not hang as low as if the addition's roof load is carried by a header in origional wall. I think when the contractor explains the actual situation you will be fine.
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
It is likely that the old exterior wall is still supporting the old roof rafters or trusses so a larger header will probably be needed in order to support more of them. The only unknown is probably the supports at each end of the new header beam. That can be determined when the wall is opened up.

I can think of no reason to save any brick above the new opening so you should be able to put the new header up under the old roof framing

The new header will be much taller if it is made of LVL engineered lumber. Steel would be shorter.
kamal dhiman
2 years ago
Hi Michey, I know this post was made a long time ago but just wondering if you remember what approach your contractor ended up using. I am in the exact same position as you and coincidentally need to get the exact type of work done.

Widening an opening in (former exterior) brick wall

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Joseph Corlett, LLC

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Widening an opening in (former exterior) brick wall

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Joseph Corlett, LLC

michey1st_gwOriginal Author

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kamal dhiman

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