As the attached image shows, I am renovating the kitchen. In connection with this, we will widen the doorway by about 20 cm to the left. The old door molding is already gone, and when everything is done, there will be a door arch with right-angled corners.
The wall is made of lightweight concrete blocks that are 7 cm thick, and I was just about ready to put the reciprocating saw into the wall when I started to wonder how the blocks above the doorway are held in place. They are not supported from underneath. Of course, I don't want blocks to start raining down from above when I widen the door. My question is, how do you proceed? Do you need to secure the blocks above the doorway in some way? Is there a specific way to cut? I looked at the existing blocks that are above the door and I can sense some kind of metal pin or similar that runs from underneath into the block, but I'm uncertain about what it is.
The wall is made of lightweight concrete blocks that are 7 cm thick, and I was just about ready to put the reciprocating saw into the wall when I started to wonder how the blocks above the doorway are held in place. They are not supported from underneath. Of course, I don't want blocks to start raining down from above when I widen the door. My question is, how do you proceed? Do you need to secure the blocks above the doorway in some way? Is there a specific way to cut? I looked at the existing blocks that are above the door and I can sense some kind of metal pin or similar that runs from underneath into the block, but I'm uncertain about what it is.
The blocks are well joined with mortar so I think the risk of collapse is very small. If you're worried, it's probably just a matter of temporarily propping with a couple of boards or something before you get the frame in place.
Thanks for the input. The right-angled "valvet" I'm looking at probably won't provide much support, I would think, since it is only meant to be glued on. See the link below. But maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily. I have bad experience with this type of work.
http://static1.bygghemma.se/files/6b5d65b9-3947-4511-8097-c88d9c845fcc/monteringsanvisning.pdf
http://static1.bygghemma.se/files/6b5d65b9-3947-4511-8097-c88d9c845fcc/monteringsanvisning.pdf
The pins you see are probably reinforcing bars of a thinner model, at least that's the case in my wall blocks. The joints between the blocks are glued and reinforced with small metal plates that are inserted into the sides of the blocks, similar to the biscuits used for joining wooden boards. It's probably safest to have some support underneath when you cut, as there will be a lot of vibrations when you cut through the reinforcement.
Sounds promising. I'll check if there are armeringsjärn / metal brackets when I get home. If that's the case, it doesn't feel like anything will collapse once I'm done sawing. Purchased new reciprocating saw blades for concrete/metal today, so now j-vlar. 