Widening internal doorway a small amount

[circlemaker]

I have a narrow internal door (70cm roughly), above it there are no brick walls on the upper level. I am wondering if there is any reason why I can’t take off the wood architrave and angle grind off about the depth of a brick to widen it. I am worried that perhaps there is a reason it wasn’t made wider in the first place so a door can be fitted. Looking at the first picture I would be widening the right hand side, above the wall on the left the wall is supporting and goes right up to the attic.

 

[Notch7]

Its probably a standard liner for a 2'3" door ie 686mm wide

If its not supporting snything, you can make it wider.

 

[circlemaker]

Ok I took a few more shots of it now I have removed the architrave. There is a concrete border around the edge and over the door is a large wooden beam from what I can see. I just need confirmation if I widen that right side I’m not going to run into any snags and if I am what they might be. Like I say I am only wanting to take the doorway wider by about a bricks depth. Thanks

 

[Gerrydelasel]

There is a concrete border around the edge and over the door is a large wooden beam from what I can see.

That'll just be bonding plaster and a wooden lintel, standard for old houses. Looks like a single skin wall so yeah you can widen it, but you might need to insert a new lintel if the existing one isn't wide enough. No doubt you'll have to smash a few bricks at the side to enlarge the opening. Looks like an easy enough job.

 

[circlemaker]

Great, thanks, I gave it a go today and all advice correct. I tried angle grinding the bricks but it proved to be almost useless as the blade wasn’t big enough and the mess it mad a nightmare. Sawed them in half in the end blunting two saws over 28 bricks.