Bricking up an external door

[ARWadsworth]

When you are bricking up an external door are you supposed to "open up" and expose the existing wall cavity or do you just brick up the gap (with it's own cavity)?

[The Natural Philosopher]

You probably will find the cavity exists anyway on a modernish house right up to the frame.

I would definitely open it up and remove alternate half bricks etc to get a good continuos cavity and brick key. But then it would be my house.

Quick'n'dirty if I was a builder on a budget..

>

[Tim Watts]

Yes - it's not hard.

Angle grinder (really! ;-> ) to cut the mortar between the half bricks, and remove. You can key both sides in an hour or less. Hammer and bolster would work too but not quite as quick.

Pack mortar in tight with a bit of wood on these when building up the wall and it will be a very strong joint.

I did the same to extend a wall by a foot (also a door opening that was moved along a bit).

They will be... Metal strip if you're lucky (though that is a fairly strong solution) or a couple of nails banged in if they are really cheap bastards.

[Tim Watts]

I forgot to add - when I did my wall extension, I also inverted the new bricks where they keyed in so I had a frog facing a frog - fully packed with mortar.

That's probably over engineered for a full doorway bricking up but as I was adding a little wibbly bit on the end of a wall, it was necessary to make the joint really solid...

[ARWadsworth]

I guess that there is already some sort of vertical DPM in place around the door.

Opening up the cavity is no big deal.

I will need to hold back the existing cavity wall insulation whilst cutting back. I believe that it will be a wool filled insulation.

It might be the metal strips for the external part of the wall. It is not brick but concrete bricks. The idea is to brick up the old door and then render the new brickwork to look like it was concrete bricks.

[Andrew Gabriel]

That will probably just stay put. Be thankful it's not tiny polystyrene balls...

[Tim Watts]

Yes - I can personally confirm that wool (or blown fibre) does not tend to fall out - much at least. It's worth having a bit of glass wool to hand (old tank jacket is a good source if there's one down the tip) and just stuff a bit back as you go. But mostly it is pretty stable.

[Martin Bonner]

Cavity? What is this cavity of which you speak?

suggests cavity wall construction moved east across the country between mid-19th and mid-20th century. I'm from Cambridge, and would have guessed they became common in the 50's.

Cavity wall insulation didn't become required until the 70's, which is hardly "very old". In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of our housing stock predates cavity wall insulation.

[ARWadsworth]

I am assuming that the house in question has a vertical dpm of some sort (built around 1955 but NOT with normal bricks). It certainly has got cavity wall insulation (installed 11 months ago just in time for cold snap we had).

I would feel happier by opening up the cavity before bricking the hole up.

Cheers

[Roger Mills]

I'm sure you're right. That doesn't necessarily mean that the majority of the housing stock is *still* uninsulated because a hell of a lot of cavities have been filled retrospectively (and not just by dentists).

[dennis]

It wasn't required in the early eighties. Until about three years ago I had the only house with cavity wall insulation in the street and I had to pay for that in 1981 just after the house was built. Quite a few have been done now its subsidised. I can't moan though, I have saved many times the cost in thirty years.

[Nutkey]

Now it's subsidised... My dad popped round to see a neighbour last night. Rang me up afterwards to tell me that she's having cavity wall insulation put in for free (she's an OAP).

Trouble is, she has solid walls. I think I might go round with my dad to watch....

[The Natural Philosopher]

wave a fairy wand over the house, collect the subsidy and f*ck off..?

Oh, sorry, that's 'renewable energy'..;-)

[dennis]

Watch from outside.. they will drill holes through the wall and fill the room with insulation.

[ARWadsworth]

Now that would be fun if they were still using the expanding foam type of cavity wall insulation.