Hi
I have a project to install some French doors on the rear south side of my house overlooking the back yard and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions around my overall plan and also particularly on the kinds of joints I should use for the lumber. The house dates from about 1850 and is in a rural area and I guess in those days the back yard was just a general dumping ground so there are just 3 very small windows overlooking it, one of which is in the pantry! So, I'm wanting to convert a room on the back of the house into a sunroom by installing some French doors giving a view over the back lawn. The width of the French doors is about 6' so there are obviously structural implications as studs are going to have to be removed and I need to install a lintel to give support.
It's a 1 1/2 storey timberframe house and very solidly and heavily built. I'm showing a drawing, Picture (1),of the layout of the wall where I want to put the French doors. At each end of the wall is a heavy 4"x6" post marked A and F. Next to F is a window and to the left of this are a series of 4"x2" (genuine inches btw) studs marked B - E. The current window is between stud E and the 4"x6" post F. The window and studs D and E need to be removed to make room for the French door. Studs D and E are only about 1/2" apart and may be loadbearing, supporting the middle section of the wall and the 2nd storey of the house but I have no way of knowing. I think I have to assume they are load bearing and I should run a lintel between the structural posts A and F as I think it would be dangerous to assume that B and C would be a strong enough to take the load. Any thoughts on the concept of my plan to this point would be very helpful.
I've bought a very sturdy 4"x5" beam from a local architectural salvage firm to be a lintel across the 9' gap between A and F and I'm thinking about what kind of joints I should use to secure the lintel to the posts and to the studs. Picture (2) shows how I think the lintel (dotted lines) would fit on the wall.
I think steds A & B have fairly straightforward cross lap joints onto the lintel as shown in Picture (3).
Studs D and E need to rest securely in the lintel and Picture (4) shows how I see that working. In all cases, I'd secure the studs to the lintel either with screws or carriage bolts or maybe I should glue them?
My main uncertainty is about the joints to use to attach the ends of the lintel to the posts. The posts are obviously heavily loadbearing and the major support for the building so I'm very mindful of the need to maintain their strength. The other thing is that they're fixed in position so although a mortise and tenon joint is the obvious candidate, because the posts are fixed I wouldn't be able to move either of them to one side to insert the tenon into the mortise.
Picture (5) shows one possibility. I cut a notch 2 1/2" high and say 2" into the post and cut a corresponding tongue into the end of the lintel such that the lintel can rest in the notch in the post. Accuracy would be important (and a challenge!) to ensure that all of the notches aligned, including the notchs for the studs. I see the primary negative on this as being removing 1/3 of the 6" width of the post and weakening it.
I have some very old dense lumber from an old barn and another possibility for attaching the lintel to the posts would be bolt support pieces of this lumber to the side of the post to create a slot for the tongue of the lintel to fit in. This is shown in Picture (6). In this case, the only weakening of the post would be from having the 4 (say) bolts that fixed the support pieces. My guess is that this joint wouldn't be as strong as the cutting the notch in the post but it does avoid weakening it and it would probably be easier on accuracy as the lap joints could be cut and the tongue on the lintel could be cut and then the bolted supports could be positioned afterwards to support the tongue wherever it ends up against the posts.
I guess the other possibility would be some combination of Picture (5) and (6) cutting a notch but maybe only about (say) 3/4", ensuring the lintel was embedded in the post and supporting it with support pieces as described in Picture (6). This would minimize the weakening of the post.
I'd be grateful for any thoughts on my project. I've pulled drywall off to locate the stud and post positions so I know for sure where they are.
Thanks
Andrew
I have a project to install some French doors on the rear south side of my house overlooking the back yard and I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions around my overall plan and also particularly on the kinds of joints I should use for the lumber. The house dates from about 1850 and is in a rural area and I guess in those days the back yard was just a general dumping ground so there are just 3 very small windows overlooking it, one of which is in the pantry! So, I'm wanting to convert a room on the back of the house into a sunroom by installing some French doors giving a view over the back lawn. The width of the French doors is about 6' so there are obviously structural implications as studs are going to have to be removed and I need to install a lintel to give support.
It's a 1 1/2 storey timberframe house and very solidly and heavily built. I'm showing a drawing, Picture (1),of the layout of the wall where I want to put the French doors. At each end of the wall is a heavy 4"x6" post marked A and F. Next to F is a window and to the left of this are a series of 4"x2" (genuine inches btw) studs marked B - E. The current window is between stud E and the 4"x6" post F. The window and studs D and E need to be removed to make room for the French door. Studs D and E are only about 1/2" apart and may be loadbearing, supporting the middle section of the wall and the 2nd storey of the house but I have no way of knowing. I think I have to assume they are load bearing and I should run a lintel between the structural posts A and F as I think it would be dangerous to assume that B and C would be a strong enough to take the load. Any thoughts on the concept of my plan to this point would be very helpful.
I've bought a very sturdy 4"x5" beam from a local architectural salvage firm to be a lintel across the 9' gap between A and F and I'm thinking about what kind of joints I should use to secure the lintel to the posts and to the studs. Picture (2) shows how I think the lintel (dotted lines) would fit on the wall.
I think steds A & B have fairly straightforward cross lap joints onto the lintel as shown in Picture (3).
Studs D and E need to rest securely in the lintel and Picture (4) shows how I see that working. In all cases, I'd secure the studs to the lintel either with screws or carriage bolts or maybe I should glue them?
My main uncertainty is about the joints to use to attach the ends of the lintel to the posts. The posts are obviously heavily loadbearing and the major support for the building so I'm very mindful of the need to maintain their strength. The other thing is that they're fixed in position so although a mortise and tenon joint is the obvious candidate, because the posts are fixed I wouldn't be able to move either of them to one side to insert the tenon into the mortise.
Picture (5) shows one possibility. I cut a notch 2 1/2" high and say 2" into the post and cut a corresponding tongue into the end of the lintel such that the lintel can rest in the notch in the post. Accuracy would be important (and a challenge!) to ensure that all of the notches aligned, including the notchs for the studs. I see the primary negative on this as being removing 1/3 of the 6" width of the post and weakening it.
I have some very old dense lumber from an old barn and another possibility for attaching the lintel to the posts would be bolt support pieces of this lumber to the side of the post to create a slot for the tongue of the lintel to fit in. This is shown in Picture (6). In this case, the only weakening of the post would be from having the 4 (say) bolts that fixed the support pieces. My guess is that this joint wouldn't be as strong as the cutting the notch in the post but it does avoid weakening it and it would probably be easier on accuracy as the lap joints could be cut and the tongue on the lintel could be cut and then the bolted supports could be positioned afterwards to support the tongue wherever it ends up against the posts.
I guess the other possibility would be some combination of Picture (5) and (6) cutting a notch but maybe only about (say) 3/4", ensuring the lintel was embedded in the post and supporting it with support pieces as described in Picture (6). This would minimize the weakening of the post.
I'd be grateful for any thoughts on my project. I've pulled drywall off to locate the stud and post positions so I know for sure where they are.
Thanks
Andrew