During the redevelopment of living space, there is often a need to change the dimensions of doorways in order to fit them to modern standards of interior doors. Sometimes for this it is necessary to expand the frame of the gap in the wall, but more often the opposite problem arises - to reduce the height of the opening or make it narrower. Next, we will talk about ways to reduce the size so that it is reliable and not difficult.
Materials for changing the dimensions of the wall clearance - from classic to modern means
If it is decided to make major repairs, whether it be an apartment or a private house, you cannot do without replacing the interior doors, even if the old canvases have retained their operational qualities. Doors made according to the standards of 20-30 years ago are unlikely to organically fit into a modern interior. When replacing old canvases with new ones, the problem of their dimensional mismatch may arise - either the width does not match, or the height of the new doors turns out to be less, and often both. To solve this problem, let's figure out which building materials are suitable for and reducing its height.
Now, to change the dimensions of wall gaps, they most often use convenient and functional drywall. With it, you can create almost any structure, first forming a frame from metal profiles. This is done if you need to compensate for a large difference in size. If you need to narrow the doorway or lower its upper border slightly, the GCR will help you quickly solve the problem without creating a frame.
However, narrowing the doorways with plasterboard sheets is not always suitable - if you plan to install a heavy door (metal or natural wood), it is advisable to make the installation clearance more reliable. Several materials come in handy here. Ordinary brick for rough masonry is suitable if a radical change in size is to be expected. Plastering mortar will help to build up a small layer when it is necessary to narrow the lumen to 10 cm (5 cm on each side). With the help of a wooden beam, you can correct the width or height within 5-8 cm.
When selecting material for changing the dimensions of the wall clearance, the following factors are also taken into account:
- the material from which the wall was erected (piece building material, concrete blocks, cast concrete, a wooden partition or made on the basis of a frame with cladding);
- wall thickness (if the structure is narrow, brickwork to narrow the opening will be inappropriate);
- service load on the wall (load-bearing wall structure or non-load-bearing wall).
Taking into account the fact that now lightweight canvases are mainly used as interior doors, we will consider the technology of reducing the doorway from this position.
We make the opening already - all noteworthy ways
It is best to reduce the width of the doorway with the help of wooden beams if the thickness of the increase in the lateral boundaries of the lumen does not exceed 5 cm.In such a situation, the bar installed as a missing addition will eventually be closed with a casing. If you make the wood insert wider, there will be problems with finishing due to the fact that finishing solutions do not adhere well to the wood. But the bars have their own plus - it is convenient to attract the door frame to them with self-tapping screws when installing it. It is necessary to fasten the lumber itself with anchors if the wall is made of brick or concrete, or with self-tapping screws if the wall structure is wooden.
It is advisable to use brickwork to narrow the gap if the wall is made with the same material and a massive door is planned to be installed. When laying out the missing part of the opening with a brick, two rules must be observed. Firstly, to bandage the laid out bricks with the main wall, and secondly, to make a solid foundation under the masonry. The dressing is done using pieces of steel bar (6-8 mm in cross section) or reinforcement. Jumpers are installed after 3-4 rows - a hole is drilled in the wall opposite the horizontal masonry seam with a perforator, into which a steel pin is inserted about half the length. Another part of the rod or reinforcement is placed in the masonry mortar. As a basis for masonry, a floor slab (in an apartment) or a section of the foundation filled with concrete should be used, if this is the first floor of a private house. Laying a brick on a floor covering, especially a wooden floor, is not allowed. Such a base will not withstand the weight of the masonry, and it will sag over time.
It makes sense to resort to narrowing the opening by laying out bricks when the missing width is at least 12 cm.
If the wall is made of brick or concrete, and the required reduction in the width of the opening is small, you can fill the missing volume with a layer of durable cement-sand plaster. In front of the cape of the solution, two boards are installed on each side of the wall, while moving forward to the required distance deep into the opening. It is important to set the inner edges of the boards vertically so that the mounting surface for installing the door frame is as good as possible. Before covering the mortar, you can fix a metal mesh over the entire plastering area to strengthen the plaster layer and tie it to the main wall.
Now about the most popular way to narrow the doorway - using drywall. If it is necessary to fill the missing volume of a small size, it is not necessary to make a frame for installing the gypsum board. It is enough to cut off strips of material corresponding to the width of the wall thickness, and glue them to the side surface of the wall opening with a special assembly glue. Considering that the most common (wall) is 12.5 mm, then by gluing 3 strips on one side, you can easily add the missing part of the wall (about 5-6 cm, taking into account the layers of mounting glue). Instead of adhesive mixtures in such a situation, conventional polyurethane foam is often used, which also provides sufficient strength.
If you need to reduce the opening, say, by 20 centimeters or more, you will have to start creating a frame, for which you will need UD and CD profiles. The frame is made taking into account the thickness of the gypsum board so that the surface of the drywall approximately coincides with the surface of the base wall. From the inside, the frame can not be sheathed with plasterboard if the width of the door frame corresponds to the thickness of the wall. In this case, the rack of the box is screwed to the transverse jumpers of the frame. When the wall is much thicker than the door frame, GKL is also sheathed from the inside, especially since with this option it is possible to fill the gap with mounting foam, which additionally fixes the structure of the interior doors.
Putting the top down - everything is possible with the right approach
How to reduce the height by making the doorway suitable for the dimensions of the selected doors? Brick will obviously not work here. A wooden block can be used, but, again, there are many disadvantages. Remained drywall, helping out professional and home craftsmen in many problem situations.
If it is necessary to slightly increase the "vershok" of the wall opening, we use the same technology as on the side of the opening. We cut the strips of material, prepare the glue used for installing the gypsum board without a frame, and mount the missing part of the wall layer by layer. Mounting adhesive has excellent adhesion properties, so there is no need to support the drywall strips while waiting for the mixture to set. For fidelity, you can additionally secure the material with dowels or self-tapping screws, pulling the gypsum board to the base.
If it is necessary to significantly reduce the height of the doorway, we use frame technology. On the top and side (up to the required height) surfaces of the opening, guide profiles are mounted (on both sides) so that there is space for sheathing for the thickness of the gypsum board used. Sections of the bearing profile are inserted into the guides and fixed - this is how the frame is formed. It remains to sheathe the base from the profile with plasterboard, and the opening is ready. Simple, isn't it?
Quite often, it turns out that the frame of the interior door is narrower than the thickness of the cut of the wall and you have to use an additional bar to eliminate this discrepancy. Today we will tell you how to build up the box at the expense of the additional bar and from what material the additional elements are made.
If you decide in another city, then it is much easier to choose the door designs you like, based on their appearance and material characteristics, than to order a door of a certain thickness, taking into account the cut width of the interior partitions. In this case, the doors will be cheaper, and the discrepancy between the thickness of the box and the walls will be compensated by an additional bar. This element should be selected taking into account the color of the door, the material for its production is MDF or chipboard, and the thickness of the strips ranges from 10 to 16 mm. Thicker additional elements are fixed with self-tapping screws, thinner ones are fixed with wood glue.
It is difficult to give preference to any additional material, but it is easier to fix the element with glue, in addition, when glued, you will not have to mechanically damage the box with self-tapping screws and it will have less chance of deforming during operation.
When choosing an extension, also pay attention to the fact that after installation, the gap between it and the wall is one centimeter; a smaller distance will make it more difficult to work with polyurethane foam, and a larger distance can lead to deformation of the extension after foaming the voids between the wall cut and the door frame.
Installation of additional strips.
On the back of the box there is a special groove for the addition, it is into it that the extension element must be inserted, but this must be done only after the box itself is fully fixed. First, measure the exact distance from the groove to the edge of the wall, then cut the extension lengthwise with a hand saw or jigsaw. You can make an attempt to choose the exact width of the plank when buying, but it is difficult, and if you buy an add-on for several doors, it is impossible, therefore, it is best to purchase an additional element with a margin, since it is easy to cut and is inexpensive.
Depending on the thickness, the extension inserted into the groove is fixed with small self-tapping screws or glue. In the second case, it is necessary to pre-coat the groove and the end of the extension with adhesive, then insert the element into the groove and press firmly for a dozen or two seconds. It is important that the angle of insertion of the planks is exactly 90 degrees, so insert them tightly into the groove, pressing along the entire length.
As a rule, the gap between the extrusion and the wall is filled with polyurethane foam, after which the door perimeter is decorated with a casing.
Dmitry Shekhovtsev
Quite recently, on occasion, I got to a master class widely known in our country, and even beyond its chapels, by the decorator Irina Dymova. She gave an example of a case that happened on one of her projects. She got a large spacious hall, which is also a living room, in a country house. The problem was that at the end of this room there was a small door leading to the kitchen. Not only did the door not match the size of the hall, but it was also located somewhat to the side, not on the main centerline. Irina has found some interesting solutions on how to level the space. Among other things, she made a false door, in which only one part of it was a passage (highlighted in red in the photo), and the rest was decor.
I liked this idea and decided to investigate what other way the doorway could be changed to make it appear larger, wider, taller, depending on the tasks of the decorator.
Add windows
A fairly common technique is to add small windows on the sides or top. If the door was of the same size as the entire door + window opening, it would be too heavy, cumbersome and expensive. And in this case, you can put a standard door.
Paint
The simplest and most affordable solution. Most importantly, this method, unlike the previous one, can be applied when the repair has already been completed. With the first method, such a number will not work, for it you need to expand the doorway, which means a lot of dirt and dust.
Make an overlay
Just as a headdress makes a person taller, so plinths, platbands, capitals, portals and other decorative elements, depending on which side they are attached to, make the opening either visually higher or wider.
This decor can also be attached after major repairs.
Add glass or mirror
Unlike the first point, here we are talking about an insert of glass or a mirror into the door leaf itself. If the door design allows it, this can be done even on an already installed door. The glazing beads that hold the panel are carefully pulled out, and a glass or mirror is installed in its place.
The effect, I think, is clear: glass / mirror adds depth to the doorway, and it psychologically seems larger.
Make a sliding door
Of course, the effect of an enlarged doorway will occur if the door moves from the outside, rather than retreating into the wall. Then the opening seems to become double. We see the passage itself and the sliding door. This creates the effect of a large double door.
Our perception is limited and easily deceived. If you do not have the ability to physically enlarge the space, you can visually resize it.
To increase doorways, you will need plaster, primer, nails, screws, a metal frame and guides, as well as a spatula and squares. The transfer process consists of two stages: transferring the opening by several centimeters and expanding the opening in width and height.An increase in the height of the opening in a panel house is carried out by cutting the monolithic structure to the required height. If the doorway is in the interior partition, then in this case the opening is increased with the help of corners. Reduction of doorways is done using a special structure made of plasterboard.
Modification in height up to 6 cm is carried out by plastering the doorway, and over 6 cm - a structure made of plasterboard or brick is needed. Brickwork is durable, and drywall is lightweight. Sometimes it is necessary to move a doorway. The opening from the monolithic wall can be cut off. And if the doorway is in a brick wall, then all the elements will need to be moved. Both processes involve either building a wall or cutting.
Stages of work to increase openings
Increasing the height of the openings includes a number of preparatory work. First, using a level, marks are applied on both sides of the opening. Next, the old opening is dismantled. After that, holes are made along the outlined line. Gently remove concrete or brick with a sledgehammer and hammer. This method is traditional, but the best result is achieved using special equipment equipped with diamond cutting discs. Plaster is removed according to the specified marks along the entire length of the bar. The next step is laying bricks along the side of the wall up to the marks.In brick and monolithic walls, you can change the size of doorways by no more than 21 cm in height and 20 cm in width. Expansion of doorways can be accompanied by cracks or chips. Therefore, upon completion of work, you should carefully inspect the wall and eliminate all defects. A cement layer is applied between the upper part of the opening and the brickwork.
Often there is a need to strengthen and strengthen openings. If it is a concrete wall, then you can strengthen the opening with the help of channels. The brick structure is reinforced with metal or concrete lintel. If the doorway is located in a load-bearing wall, then the work is carried out with a permit and a project that describes the stages of the activities, the procedure for increasing the opening and procedures for strengthening the structure.
Sometimes there are situations when the door leaf along its length does not fit the doorway. In such cases, it is necessary to either cut it off using an electric circular saw or a hacksaw with a fine tooth.
Or vice versa, it needs to be slightly increased in length. To do this, you will need wood glue, screws and planed wooden beams, the same size as the door leaf. Due to seasonal deformations, wooden doors can both swell and dry out.
Therefore, if the door is swollen, then a small layer of wood will need to be removed from it so that they can close well. But in those cases when the door is dry, they make a special wooden gasket, the thickness of which can be adjusted.
To do this, you need a small piece of copper, tin or brass, but only in a rectangular shape. Then this gasket is attached to the end of the door leaf with nails or screws, about half of its height, while bending it in half.
After that, an elastic pad is carefully placed between the plates, and they are clamped quite tightly. As a result, if necessary, it will always be possible to change the thickness of the clip, thereby ensuring the tightness of the door closing.
If you are interested in competent marketing and for starting your own business, we advise you to pay attention to the Internet magazine "Beautiful Business", where you will find a lot of useful information.
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