Expert: Dan Griffin - 9/10/2008

Question
QUESTION: We have an exterior brick veneer wall(whole brick with wood frame support inside wall) with 8 foot, plastered sheet rock walls inside. We are planning to add a six foot french door which opens inwardly. How should we begin? (inside or outside?) Will a 12inch, electric concrete saw suffice for the brick sawing? What kind of support is needed when we saw away the brick and take away the inner wall and studs that now exist in the future door space? Thank you very much for your time and expertise.

ANSWER: Lee, is this a load bearing wall - are the rafters pushing on this wall?  One story or two?

I'll do a bit of guessing anyway.  You need to support the overhead loads by shoring the loads first.  Remove the interior drywall where the  door will be going.  The loads will be carried by a header that you need to create in the studding.  I would use two 2x12s with a 1/2" plywood filler, king stud at each end and double trimmer.  YOu need to work out all the dimesnsions so you have the proper rough opening for the door you have selected.

The brick work will need a steel lintel.  Cut off bricks are ugly, so yo will need to either tooth out the brick work or create a trim detail that will cover the cuts.  It may be easier to remove the bricks all the way to the soffit on a one story and relay the toothing and lintel.

There will probably be electric wiring routed through your opening that will need to be re-routed.  I know this is a light weight treatment of the issues and you may need to ask more questions.  Feel free to ask, but do look up the terms I've used to understand the issues.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Very good guessing, by the way! :) This is a one story ranch house with rather low pitch on the roof. It's a load-bearing wall on the rafter end side at the back of the house. A couple of more questions, if you have the time. 1) With the lintel, how far should it extend beyond either side of the door itself? 2) Is there any reason I should NOT slip the lintel horizontally between bricks along the mortar line on either side of the door, rather than taking out the bricks on either side to place the lentil? 3) Is the "king stud" a double 2x4 stud, a 4x4 post, or just a single 2x4 stud? 4) Do you have a favorite source on internet for looking up things like "king stud"? I didn't find a very satisfactory description online. 5) Would you use jacks or 2x4s or 4x4s to shore up the existing header/framework/brick while removing other parts? 6) As a header, I have a 4x12 "power lam" left over from another project. What if I use that instead of the two 2x12s? 7) How would you go about setting the height of decking outside the door in relation to the height of the interior flooring? Thank you again for your assistance.

Answer
Lee,  
The lintel needs to bear a minimum of 3" on each side of the opening.  Slipping the lintel into the existing mortar line will work, the problem is wrestling into location from the inside.  Look at any existing window or door in a brick home to see the lintel and its installation..

I was really lucky on my first stab. No, I don't have any particular site for framing terms but I told Google "wood framing glossary" and this is the one I happened to click:
http://www.ac3framing.com/framing_glossary.htm

Steel screw jacks give maximum flexibility to the shoring task.  2x4 work fine, 4x4 let you move them farther apart to allow better work access.

I don't know power lam.  If it is a full 4" thick, it will be difficult to incorporate in a 3 1/2 stud wall.  There certainly are LVL and other manmades that work really well.

The finish decking must be lower than the interior finish floor by at least a 1/2".  The french doors set probably has an itegral threahold.  Make sure you design a sloped subsill and proper pan flashing under the threshold to deal with water intrusion.