WIDENING A FIRST FLOOR WINDOW

[DAJ]

I am in the process of renovatiing a 4 bedroom house. The project has been running for 3 years now, we are on a limited budget and 99% of the plumbing, electrics, building work etc. have been carried out by myself (hence 3 years!). So far, we have made a loft conversion with 3 bedrooms, built a purpose built 10 person cinema with 10' fixed screen and a state of the art bathroom.
BUT I am now about to embark on the kitchen which involves taking out a wall where a window is currently sited. The window is on the first floor of a 3 storey building (G, 1 & 2) and is around 1.8m wide (the window, not the building lol). I need to fit a 3m bio-fold door in it's place which will open onto a large balcony, yet to be built.

The intention is to make the reveal, then fabricate the bottom and fit a cheap softwood window until such time as the kitchen is completed. Then, when the balcony has been erected, remove the window and fabrication, and install the bio-fold door.

My problem, as I see it, is to support the brickwork above, whilst installing the steel. This is normaly a straightforward job with acros. But how do I support the brickwork when there is nowhere for the acros to be positioned outside the window? Would supporting the joists internally be sufficient for the few hours it'd take to fit the steel and make good above or is there another solution. I've even considered building supports jutting out from the outside wall below floor level!!!!!

Thanks guys!

 

[wavetrain]

How about 4 strongboys and 2 short props?

 

[DAJ]

* * * T H A N K S * * *

Do you know, I felt sure there must be a purpose made solution. I asked at the local plant hire shop and was greeted with 3 young men scratching their heads saying "donnow mate".

"STRONGBOYS" it is then

 

[wavetrain]

hey, I'm no expert, wait for some comfirmatoin from others on this forum first before getting those strongboys in!

 

[DAJ]

No problem mate, I checked on the net upon reading your first reply. Once I knew the term, it was easy to "Google" it. The www is great if you know exactly what you're looking for, if not, you're stuffed! Thanks to you, I did know what I was lookung for!

Thanks again!

 

[^woody^]

Strongboys are not intended to support both leafs of a wall at the same time. They may do, they may not do depending on the circumstances. You certainly don't want the outer leaf to move outwards (and downwards) when on single strongboys on the inside

Even if they will do, then they may be so tight to the wall that there is no room to manouvre the beam into place.

 

[DAJ]

Thanks for that. The wall is not cavity, it is a solid x2 wall. You're suggesting that this is not the solution but you don't suggest an alternative, have you any ideas?

The guys at the hire shop have agreed with the previous post (Strongboys) and I thought of inserting the steel from outside, maybe on towers.

I do not intend to start on this job until the last week in May, but i want to be clued up prior to starting.

 

[^woody^]

If you read the guidance from the makers, then it states that Strongboys are for single skins only. If the guys at the hire shop say otherwise, then you can certainly claim off them if things go t1ts up

If you get some used from the hire shop, you normally find that they are bent where they have been used to support a wall on the very end of them.

If the wall is 1 brick thick, then the bond may be such that loads come to the inner face and so a strong boy can be used. But just because a Strongboy can be used, does not mean that it should be used

I did not suggest an alternative because the only correct solution is to have someone look at it, look at the bond, assess the joints and the likeliness of the unsupported bits staying up, consider the loads, and then decide how it should be supported.

 

[wavetrain]

I think you should post a picture or 2 so novices such as myself can scratch our heads, but you could consider doing it this way:

BCH157

• wavetrain
• 1 May 2009
• 1

 

[noseall]

Build a scaffold platform, and prop off the scaffold. Align the props with the existing stanchions or as near as dammit.

Use a needling method whereby you would pass a couple of scaffold tubes through the wall, and above the intended beam position. Prop each end of the tube.

 

[^woody^]

I think you should post a picture or 2 so novices such as myself can scratch our heads, but you could consider doing it this way:

That method from Chudley is fine for ground floor windows. The OP's problem is that this is at first floor, so it's not straightforward copy of that diagram

 

[stuart45]

A method I saw used on a job years ago was to use some 6x4 timbers as needles and pin them with acrows to the ceiling and allow the ends to cantilever under the brickwork. The floors below were also propped. An unconventional method and not as safe as Noseall's but it did actually work.