Joe87

HI, Im in the planning stage of building a garden room and i have a few questions i hope someone can help me with. We've decided to have bi fold doors of about 4 meters long. Next to this will be a window going from the side of the bi-fold along to the corner of the building attached to another window on the right side wall. Basically the front and right side will be all door and windows. The building will be block built, single leaf with a flat roof. Obviously the roof will be supported by the block work around all but the front and front right of the building where the door and windows will be. However, Im confused what i need to have over the bi-fold doors and the corner windows to not just attach the roof joists to, but also the top of the bi-fold door and attach the windows themselves to. I've been told by a builder that a wood lintel (c24 timber etc bolted together to make the width needed) would be fine and that the bi-folds, roof joists etc can be attached to that? That brings up more questions for me though. If i use a wood lintel it would have to span the 4 meters of bi fold door, the window directly to the side of it and then around the corner for the other window. So maybe about 6 meters on the front and 3.5 meters on the side. So am i able to bolt the wood lintel together to make something long enough to span the 6 meters (bi-fold and front window, unless i can get timber 6 meters long) and for the corner would the wood lintel then sit on a square corner post or something else that would take the load like a bay pole maybe?? and then another 4 meters or so of wood lintel coming of the square corner post or something else, for the side window? Ive looked at single leaf lintels but i can only ever see ones that are 2.5 meters so not long enough for what i need. Im really sorry if this doesnt make sense, i know what im trying to ask but its difficult to put into words haha. Basically as simple as possible, what exists in the world that i can use to attach a bi-fold door, corner window and the roof joists above so it all stays together and doesnt collapse on me ?. I hope it makes enough sense that someone can help. Thanks all for any help. Much appreciated Joe

Thanks for all the replies, some really good pointers. I thought I would get flamed of the forum haha. These are some good points. I'll definitely have a look at the video, that could be just what I need. I do like to jump into the deep end, "I built a grow box next job... Garden House!" haha. Thanks!

Hi all, We are in the VERY early stages of building our own garden room. We have decided on bi-fold doors across the front about 4m wide and two windows to make the corner one next to the bi fold and one on the side wall connecting at the corner with a square corner post. I have 2 questions that I hope someone can help with. 1. My first question is, do the bifold doors (I assume runner) get attached to the wooden ceiling edge? Obviously the lower runner is on a course of bricks but I'm not sure on the top as I obviously can't add a course of bricks above the door. Sorry if this seems a ridiculous question. It'll probably be obvious once I know haha 2. Question two is, do I need some sort of load bearing square corner post? I can't imagine the roof just sits on top of the door and window frames. It'll be a good 5m or so of roof on that corner that potentially won't be held up by anything. Is there something else that would be used or would the other walls hold up this area or would I need some sort of lintel across the front to take the load? As I've said this is really early stages and we are still researching and learning a lot before we start anything! So I hope these questions are not to ridiculous :p. Everything else we are confident with but it's only the windows and bi fold we are unsure of and even if I do end up having them fitted I want to make sure it would be 'set up' correctly for a hassle free fitting. I hope I've made the questions clear. Thanks for any help Joe