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Original poster

Is knocking a doorway through messy?

19 replies

DyingForACuppa · 01/01/2022 18:56

This sounds like a mad question, I realise, but I have no personal experience.

We are having a two floor extension built, then once the windows are in they will knock two single size doorways into the house (one on each floor). DH thinks the dust/mess will be minimal, it will only take a day and we won't even need to empty the rooms that are being knocked through to.

My impression was that it was going to be awful with masonry chunks/dust everywhere and we at a minimum need to clear the two rooms that are being knocked into and possibly tape up doors from that room to the lounge to minimise spread of dust.

Anyone with experience of knocking through a doorway into a room want to shed some light on what level of mess I should be preparing for?

OP posts:
arapacis · 01/01/2022 19:05

We've done it recently and it's incredibly messy. You will want to empty rooms or cover everything with dust sheets. It also takes more than a day depending on whether you need a lintel/RSJ and for the finish, plastering, door frame etc.

Policyschmolicy · 01/01/2022 19:06

Very messy. And also marks the point at which the building dust is open to the rest of your house. You will want dust sheets.

trickyex · 01/01/2022 19:06

VERY messy and you will need to empty the rooms. Your DH is a bit deluded.

ChequerBoard · 01/01/2022 19:06

As above, it's incredibly messy plus the resultant holes will need to be plastered which is another messy job.

TheLeadbetterLife · 01/01/2022 19:07

Horrendous mess. Tape dust sheets over every doorway and try to seal off the area as much as you can. There will still be dust and bits of brick all over though.

Newnormal99 · 01/01/2022 19:08

I had most of a wall knocked down to rebuild it further in for a loft conversion.

They taped everything up that couldn't leave the room (including bed and furniture) all the seals of the doors to other rooms. Blocked up the stairway etc.

I won't lie when I saw it when they had just done it it looked there had been an explosion and part of the house had collapsed. The builders also looked as if they had been caught in said explosion. Couple of hours later you would have never known!

There were some gritty bits and builders dust left behind but honestly they did an amazing job clearing it up.

MrsMoastyToasty · 01/01/2022 19:09

It's very messy. I was cleaning dust out of the inside of cupboards for weeks.

Santahatesbraisedcabbage · 01/01/2022 19:10

Mm not sure I remember.. I do remember dh not being keen but I had discussed it with builder ndn.
Who turned up one tea time with a sledgehammer, asked which wall and took a swing..
The look on dh's face was one of the best moments of our marriage!!
Now divorced!!

LawnFever · 01/01/2022 19:10

Yeah messy and dusty, we’ve had work done recently and even though we covered everything it’s as if it hangs in the air and the dust keeps on settling for days afterwards.

Newnormal99 · 01/01/2022 19:11

This is what it looked like.....

Is knocking a doorway through messy?
CrystalMaisie · 01/01/2022 19:12

I remember this from when I was a child, and my mum saying brick dust settled for weeks after.

PureBlackVoid · 01/01/2022 19:20

I’ve been desperate to move the doorway in my living room for some time as it’s in a really awkward place, but this thread has put me right off!

Ohpulltheotherone · 01/01/2022 19:23

Yup it’s messy, brick dust gets everywhere!
It’s fairly simple to do but it does take a canny while for them to get through and kicks up a lot of mess.

I would personally remove stuff if I could or I would go to town with the sheets to cover things I want to protect which are hard to dust / hover!

Original poster
DyingForACuppa · 01/01/2022 20:24

Thanks all, it's as I expected/feared!

Don't know how to get the message through to DH though, and he's not the one who will be hoovering dust off everything if we don't remove it!

OP posts:
whyohwhyohwhyohwhywhy · 01/01/2022 20:36

We didn't really find this at all! It looked pretty bad but it was a whole wall not just a doorway. But then we cleared up and went along with our day. We don't live in a show home though so I think our expectations were realistic Inthe first place.

pradavilla · 01/01/2022 21:24

Yes! Honestly I was so surprised everything was covered in black dust. U clean and and it settles again 😫 They were obviously coming through breeze blocks so the cutting part made such a mess.

Top tip! Make sure all the doors in the other rooms are closed (cover as much as u can too). Our builders mentioned they might be doing it today but probably not so we went out for the day. Came bk and they hadn't closed any doors upstairs before doing it and the dust was unreal over bed covers and everything 😡

BoodleBug51 · 01/01/2022 21:26

Imagine the most dust you've ever seen in your life.

Then times it by 100000000000000000000000000000000000.

I nearly divorced DH when we had building work done in our kitchen........ there was dust in every room in the house, and that was with the kitchen door sealed. Horrific.

Daisydoesnt · 02/01/2022 09:02

AS a PP mentions it's not just the amount of dust, it's that it hangs in the air and takes days/ weeks to settle. Do you really want that trodden into your carpets, settling on your furniture/ beds/ curtains?

PragmaticWench · 02/01/2022 09:18

We had this done last year and they cut through the previous outside wall of the house once the extension was up and windows in. The dust was like the apocalypse!! It was orange brick dust, my builder staggered out looking as though he'd been in an explosion.

We used plastic door coverings that have a zip in them, so you tape them over a doorway but can still get into the room if necessary. Fifteen pounds very well spent!

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