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How would you go about fixing this?
Also the door is rotten in places, nothing I can't bodge. A new door is £60 but 7mm too wide. Is it standard practice to cut to size?
Brother in-law who we assume knows about this stuff has bought a pvc door that is miles too big and says we can cut bricks out. The garage has a huge crack above the door and I can see it going tits up .
My thoughts are minimum intrusion means minimal grief.
The crack above the door.
It looks like the bricks will cut themselves out..... make sure you video it when the old door comes out!
Hard to tell from the picture... is that a ceiling joist above or the ridge beam/plate (single storey)? 4" wall with a vertical crack going through the bricks..... somewhat scary!
I would have thought that it all really needs to come out and a new door/frame fitted with a lintel above.
Distinct lack of lintel there.
The brickwork looks to be supported by only the door frame.
Let's hope that the door frame is in a better condition than the door or the threshold .
Needs rebuilding above the door with a lintel inserted before you worry about a new door.
This is the outside.
Yep. It's going to fall down on the outside too.
Rotten step in garage door? Just keep stepping over it for the next 20 years! 🙂
Or hack rotten bits out and fill with car body filler!
That's a bit broken. As perchy said, get the brickwork above supported, fit a lintel then fix the crack (remove broken bricks and stich it together) which has been caused by the lack of lintel - door frame may have dropped slightly on one side).
Edit: biggest issue is the pebbledash will come off when you do the repair/fit the lintel.
Oh and it's much easier to get a door made to fit the existing hole - but more expensive.
You could just gouge the rotten bits out and fill with two part expoxy and it will be good for another 20 years. A lot easier than cutting it out in situ and fitting a new one...
As for the lintel, I'd do some digging with a long drill bit to see what's just above the door, there might be a lintel and it's just movement, or possibly no lintel and you need to fit one....
Would stripping away the rotten wood of the doorstop leave much/any workable wood?
If it leaves you with indents then you could look at using wood filler to level it all out then sand/stain it all.
It looks pretty rotten though so might not be a goer. Probably easier just to cut a piece of hard wearing wood to fit a new one instead. Just a wild guess though as never done that task.
As for the lintel, I’d do some digging with a long drill bit to see what’s just above the door, there might be a lintel and it’s just movement, or possibly no lintel and you need to fit one….
From the photos it's only a single skin, half brick thick wall.
There is no lintel.
Definitely no lintol a bit of 10 mm 90x90 angle iron slipped in with the mortar bed cut out 100 mm rest each side, not a wide opening so i wouldn't get too excited about shoring but for peace of mind an acro under a roof joist or a baton wedged up
Out of interest how do you know there's a piece of angle in there?
That was my suggestion to support the brickwork as it will just be a few bricks and a joist maybe two
Ah, gotcha. Yep that would probably do (a but more bearing at each end would be better) although a concrete lintel might actually be easier to get hold of.
That's a nice crack. Worry about sorting that out before the doorstep.
I'd consider taking any existing and future advice from the in-law with a large pinch of salt. Yes, you can knock bricks out, and, er, remake the wall, and, fit a completely different door and frame... and redo the pebbledash... and probably some other stuff... but knocking 7 big whole millimetres from a £60 door will be a country mile simpler.
Doorstep easy to fix by
a) not doing anything
or
b) filling with putty of some sort and painting
PS all above advice is entirely amateur.
It's at my M.I.L's house. She's 85 so realistically it doesn't have to last too long.
Brother in-law has built his own extension and as I say appears to know what he is doing but I can't see how even looking at the bricks won't end in tears.
PS he is a prick.
You could use Wet Rot Wood Hardener to solidify what's left of the doorstep and fill and paint. It would probably last a good while longer. I had good success restoring a rotten windowsill this way and it look good for another 10 years at least.
It’s at my M.I.L’s house. She’s 85 so realistically it doesn’t have to last too long.
In which case I'd either leave it or bodge something in there (filler or, prefereably, a piece of hardwood and filler).
Leave the rest of it for a future owner to deal with as, chances are, there's other issues and it's just not worth spending the money that it needs right now.
Brother in-law has built his own extension
I'd love to know if it's got building regs sign off 🙂
#wearahardhat
That crack likely caused by something other than the lack of a lintel - is it at the end of the garage and perhaps that end of the wall has dropped a bit? You can repair cracks like that with Helifix and grout after chasing the horizontal joints out.
For the cill - either remove and fit a new one. You might be able to get a precast concrete cill for that with a piece of luck thrown in!
I'm glad you said your brother in law is a prick.
Because he sounds like a moron.
PS he is a prick.
He gets to knock out the old door frame then. Tell him you're only videoing it to publish a 'how to' series on Youtube.
I'm guessing you'll get one of those trendy full height openings without too much effort.
I'd say replace it with a new frame.
Use a few 'strongboy' props and stick a lintel of some kind in. You just chisel out the mortar line I believe. IANAB
If not. Replacing the cill is relatively straightforward. I'd still get hold of a prop, cut the frame away on the sides where it's rotted to and a bit more (a multi tool is great for this), then replace the cill and splice a new bit of frame back in.
Let the poor old lady enjoy a nice doorstep 👍
It's old school building the head of door frame is acting as a lintel. common practice back in the old days.
Personally at 85 I'd say twin pack filler from a decent hardware shop and a coat of paint and let someone else worry about it, can't imagine she goes in there that often.
Its likely all that external render will fall off as soon as you touch it, either in repairing the crack or changing the door casing.
Maybe steel plate it on the inside with a few rawlbolts and something for the joist to sit on so it doesn't get any worse. Then patch repair the cill as above.