Marko127 Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Hi all I have a house with two arched glass panels above the patio doors at the back built in the 90’s, brick outer wall with cavity and thermalite inner. The exterior of the property is fully rendered. I want to square off the arch in order to fit bifold doors. I am considering using a catnic installed from inside then bricking up into the arch. I have explored the construction at present and the external arch is constructed with soldiers with no lintel. it is a gentle arch spanning just over 3m. obviously the arch is self supporting therefore I don’t see the need to disturb it but just use the catnic to square things off. In essence the catnic would add more support if anything. Is my plan acceptable any advice would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko127 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko127 Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 Here’s the picture. Thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Your infill brickwork is all that’s supported by the catnic and minimal in weight. You just need to cut it into the existing brickwork at each end (which might compromise the arch stability during fitting !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceverge Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 -sucks through teeth----- twitches in discomfort -------inner engineering purist sobs-----------!!!!! The arch is such an elegant solution. In fact a beautiful one in my mind. Seems a shame to hide it. On a more pragmatic note bi-folds are notoriously poor for airtighess. I think @nod has some in his last house that were quite draughty. Would you consider a set of wider french doors? They'd be cheaper to boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 12 hours ago, Marko127 said: Here’s the picture. Thanks everyone I really like the look. Shame it's going to be replaced with bifolds. You might regret it afterwards, but we all have our likes and dislikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 7 hours ago, Iceverge said: -sucks through teeth----- twitches in discomfort -------inner engineering purist sobs-----------!!!!! The arch is such an elegant solution. In fact a beautiful one in my mind. Seems a shame to hide it. On a more pragmatic note bi-folds are notoriously poor for airtighess. I think @nod has some in his last house that were quite draughty. Would you consider a set of wider french doors? They'd be cheaper to boot. We’ve gone for three sets of sliders Nice easy to fit and much more airtight than bifolds The bifolds that I fitted on are previous build are pretty good But far from airtight I think it’s more in the design The manufacturer sent us larger seals Which seemed to help but made them hard to open and shut 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 10 hours ago, joe90 said: Your infill brickwork is all that’s supported by the catnic and minimal in weight. You just need to cut it into the existing brickwork at each end (which might compromise the arch stability during fitting !!!! Agreed. Why not leave this all alone and just infill the gap? Can of worms here afaic, and if I was asked to alter it I’d put-log it, remove the arch to get proper access for installing the beams, then brick fill back in accordingly. I’d never disturb those ends, there’s a lot of differing forces at play there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 There's a reasonable chance there's an arched lintel or tension strap in place. I should get a complete understanding of the existing structure first, that will probably need some intrusive investigations and a visit from a SE (or do you have construction drawings?). I concur with there's a potential can of worms that needs to be dodged. I'd then have detailed discussion with a window supplier. Potentially they could support a aluminium infill panel or glazed infill. The extra cost of this would be somewhat offset by not messing with lintels. Simple fix is to remove the arch and put in a flat lintel but it would be lost a nice feature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 11 minutes ago, George said: Simple fix is To get the door manufacturers to supply an infill panel. I like arches (I had them on all my windows) 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 16 hours ago, Marko127 said: The exterior of the property is fully rendered. So no face bricks left on display? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko127 Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 On 28/03/2024 at 18:41, Marko127 said: Hi all I have a house with two arched glass panels above the patio doors at the back built in the 90’s, brick outer wall with cavity and thermalite inner. The exterior of the property is fully rendered. I want to square off the arch in order to fit bifold doors. I am considering using a catnic installed from inside then bricking up into the arch. I have explored the construction at present and the external arch is constructed with soldiers with no lintel. it is a gentle arch spanning just over 3m. obviously the arch is self supporting therefore I don’t see the need to disturb it but just use the catnic to square things off. In essence the catnic would add more support if anything. Is my plan acceptable any advice would be greatly appreciated. Here’s the picture. Thanks everyone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 21 hours ago, Iceverge said: On a more pragmatic note bi-folds are notoriously poor for airtighess. However I had some made for my build in oak, rubber seals not brushes and were airtight during the test, it is usually the brush type of seal that’s bad on some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marko127 Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Hi all the picture relates to how it looked before rendering. My wife has disliked the arches since we moved in 6 years ago so they are definitely going!! As I said it’s just squaring the arches off I am after advice with. At the moment I am thinking the addition of a catnic at the base of the arch is probably the best solution. I will install from the inside so as not to interfere with the arch itself for obvious reasons. I will then infill with block on both sides and render the outside so nothing will be visible once the work is done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 I can't see a way to get a lintel where it needs to be without destabilising the arch in the process. Needle beams and props I think. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Punter Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 You could just build a lightweight timber frame to support render carrier boards, like Bluclad. You could screw into the underside of the arch for support. You can then mesh / render the whole thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 1 hour ago, Mr Punter said: You could just build a lightweight timber frame to support render carrier boards, like Bluclad. You could screw into the underside of the arch for support. You can then mesh / render the whole thing. This would be the least expensive and least intrusive answer IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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