Bricks, Masonry, Asphalt and Concrete - Removing double windows for French doors, brick house

Hello,
I am wanting to remove a set of double windows and replace with a set of French doors for a deck we are planning to build. Our house is brick. It appears that one course of bricks will need to be added above where the windows are. Is this a major job or a DIY self job? I am guessing we should remove the windows, and saw the opening then remove and replace the bricks that will be exposed then install the doors?
Thanks

Do you really have a brick home or do you have wood frame home with a brick veneer?

It sounds like you should re-measure. According to what you say, the door you are considering is not as high as the existing opening in your wall.

You must consider the wood frame(I assume) opening for your existing window and the opeining in the masonry veneer.

Dick

Having cut a few doors and windows into brick openings before, let me just say that you probably want the brick opening bigger than you think.

Depending on the type of door you have, it either has a nailing fin, or a brickmould. If it has a brickmould, you'll have a hard time getting the brick opening to be "exactly right" for the door to just pop in and caulk the edges. Doors are fussy and need to be perfectly plumb and even then you usually have to jack around with them to get them lined up.

If you have a nailing fin, you'll want to allow room around the perimeter of the door for that, and then allow room for trim.

So I guess what I am getting at is that you mentioned that you think you need to add an extra course of brick on top. Personally, I'd say that you should skip the brick on top (let's say it's 3 inches), and then cut the brick on the sides out to match the top (cutting out an extra 3" on the left and 3" on the right.) That way you will have plenty of room to get the door installed, plenty of room to use flashing tape to seal the perimeter of the door, and then when you install your trim around the door, it will be symetrical.

And if you don't like trim around the door and want it to be 100% brick, I'm guessing that a bricklayer would want to wait until the door has been installed and then come back and do his work later. If a brick border is to be put around 3 sides of the door, it would need to get cut out again (roughly 4" wide)and would be based on the exact location of the door.

I have a wood frame house with brick veneer. It measures about 83 inches from the top of the existing windows to the floor.

XSleeper, it sounds like you are saying I need to leave space all around and frame in the extra with wood and then cover it with trim? I guess I need to look at this closely and see if I can make this look right. Right now the existing windows are 69.5 wide, I guess if I use a 63 inch wide door it will work. I hope.

Correct. Some type of Andersen 5468 (or similar sized brand) would work well, leaving roughly 3" around the perimeter of the door for exterior trim.

I will look into the Andersen 5468. I am guessing I should remove the window then cut the opening and get all the brick work finished before mounting the door in place?

Yes, that sounds about right.

Forgive me if I get a bit pedantic here, but your repeated use of the phrase "cut the opening" has me concerned that you are not completely familiar with how windows and doors are framed.

Above the window is a header, a beam strong enough to hold up the weight of the house that rests above the window opening. The header ends rest on "jack studs", that carry the weight to the floor.

When you remove the trim and windows, you should see the jack studs on either side of the opening. You cannot just cut into them, to make the opening wider, if you happen to want a window or door wider than the existing opening allows. To intall a window wider than the opening you have, you are going to have to reframe the opening. This is a substantially more involved job than installing a window/door in the existing opening.

aq_guy,

Good advice, but I'm not sure there is anything to worry about. Try2learn already mentioned the lentil is 83" above the floor. Assuming the existing window already has a header over it, headers are usually 3/4 - 1" below the lentils, so it sounds to me like the rough opening will have plenty of headroom for a door. Try2learn also mentioned the existing windows are 69.5" wide, while the door he plans to use will likely only be 63" wide.

Since the door will be much smaller than the existing opening, no jack studs will be cut, instead, it's likely that 2 more will be added to each side. The only problem he may run into is the electrical line that almost always runs underneath a window opening in an exterior wall. Once that is exposed, it will have to get relocated.

All true, and by cut the opening he probably did mean just demo the wall under the window. Good point about the wiring too.

Sorry for my confusion on terms. I mean by "cut" the opening, I will have to remove the sheetrock and the bricks for the door to fit. I will be adding wood to each side of the existing opening to fill the spaces. Thanks for everyones help on this. Now I just need to do it I guess.