Can I buy, or construct a load-bearing door frame?

[Howie]

Hi all,

I want to knock through an internal wall to make a new doorway, and (ideally) what I'm looking for is a ready made doorframe or door/frame unit which will support 3 floor beams above it.

The reason for this is that I haven't got a wall on one side to sit a cross-beam on. I have considered making a filtch beam which can cantilever over the doorframe and support the beams above, however, I still feel that there may be some slight movement or creaking. I have done a (fixed width font) ascii drawing below, to illustrate the problem. As you can see, there is no means of support on the left hand side. (The left hand side is actually the void where a self-supported staircase stands).

3 floor beams... || || || || || || single brick wall _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ________________ |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ | | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ | | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ | top of | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ | door | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ | | |_|_|__|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ | | |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_

Any advice or suppliers info would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

H.

[Lurch]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:30:41 +0000, Howie strung together this:

Why the f*ck do people keep posting everything multiple times for no apparent reason on purpose?

[Howie]

|On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:30:41 +0000, Howie | strung together |this: | |>Hi all, |>

|Why the f*ck do people keep posting everything multiple times for no |apparent reason on purpose?

Thanks for the help. I wasn't sure that supporting floor joists really needed a structural engineer. Still, I suppose we all live and learn.

And... It wasn't on purpose. Agent flagged an error when I sent the original post. Noticed the subject line was typo'd too, changed it, sent again and cancelled the original. You were unlucky enough to retrieve headers during that process. Sorry it made you swear. I suppose it was _almost_ as unnecessary as the percieved duplicate posting.

Thanks again.

H.

[John Rumm]

There is nothing to stop you using studwork to build the frame and the small section of wall over it. Knowing the length of the beams that it will be supporting should allow you to work out the compressive load on the frame.

|| || || || || || ==================== single brick wall || || || _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ || || |||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ||======||========|||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ |||______________||||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ||| ||||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ||| top of ||||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ||| door ||||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ||| ||||_|_|__|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_ ||| ||||_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_

[Mike]

I don't think you'll get anything readymade but I would approach a steel fabricators. They often have an engineer on the staff who could calculate the strength of steel needed to make the frame in this and provide the calculations you'll need for the BCO. You'll then either need to coat or box in the steel for fire regulations so it won't look silly.

[Lurch]

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 14:06:51 +0000, Howie strung together this:

Apparantly so!

Anything makes me swear, I'm a big sweary bastard.

[Howie]

|Howie wrote: | |> I want to knock through an internal wall to make a new doorway, |> and (ideally) what I'm looking for is a ready made doorframe or |> door/frame unit which will support 3 floor beams above it. | |There is nothing to stop you using studwork to build the frame and the |small section of wall over it. Knowing the length of the beams that it |will be supporting should allow you to work out the compressive load on |the frame.

Thanks again John. i really appreciate your help with this.

H.

[Howie]

|I don't think you'll get anything readymade but I would approach a steel |fabricators. They often have an engineer on the staff who could calculate |the strength of steel needed to make the frame in this and provide the |calculations you'll need for the BCO. You'll then either need to coat or |box in the steel for fire regulations so it won't look silly. |

sound like another useful option. I'll wander along and see what they say...

Cheers Mike.

H.