Summary: This project is about filling or blocking up an old doorway or window opening using brick, blocks and plaster. Learn how to block up a doorway properly when you have removed a door. Understand the way you should block off doorways and windows safely. Don't want to do this job yourself? Let us help you find a tradesman local to you Filling in, bricking or blocking up old window and doorways seems to be a regular pastime for our users. It is so surprising how a room can be made much larger simply by moving a door from the middle of a wall to the end. The fact that the door is in the middle means that both sides of the wall around the door have to be kept clear and no furniture can be placed along that wall. Move the doorway to the end of the wall and you have freed up two walls! Filling in a door or window opening is not hard and as long as you have the correct equipment it can be done fairly quickly. See our project on removing window and door frames to first get the old wooden frame out of the way.

We have seen many people try and save time and money by leaving the frame in when they try to block up an opening but this never works. Once the old frame is out of the way you will need to fix some frame ties either side of the opening. croscill shower curtain belkFrame ties are made of galvanised metal bent to a right angle. steve madden ruffle shower curtain lilacThe short side is fixed to the edge of the opening by drilling the masonry and plugging and screwing the frame ties in place. testo canzone blue curtain fallsSee our project on fixing to masonry to see how to use a wall plug and screw. natural linen blend grommet window panels brittany

You will need to scroll down to the second part of the project page. We recommend you use lightweight block to complete this task. They are easy to cut using an ordinary timber saw (be prepared to throw the saw away afterwards as cutting blocks will blunt the saw for cutting timber) and light enough not to cause a problem when laying. white priscilla eyelet curtainsThe frame ties need to be fixed to the walls in the joints of every other course of blocks as shown in the diagram. argos blackout curtain linersThis will give the wall the strength required to plaster it and allow it to become part of the existing wall. curtains elyzaThere are other options available as well as frame ties. Using a sharp pair of tin snips you can cut some lengths of Builders Band or Expanded metal lathing and bend the lengths into shape.

These can then be fixed to the wall as you would the frame ties. The image above shows an old window having been blocked up. Position of frame ties Drag off surplus with plasterers darby When the frame ties are in place the blockwork can be laid. Most internal walls are 4 inches or 100mm thick with 12mm of plaster stuck on each side. Obviously when laying the blocks in the opening they should be laid to allow the new plaster to be put on both sides to the same thickness as the existing plaster. This will allow you to get a smooth finish where the new plaster meets the old plaster. When the blockwork has gone hard it can be plastered. See our various projects on plastering. For the first coat of plaster you will need what is called a base coat or scratch coat and when this is complete it is topped off with skim plaster. The base coat of plaster should be laid so that it finishes level with the existing wall either side of the opening and then any surplus is dragged off using a plasterers darby.

All the tools needed for this project can be seen below in the tool box or are dotted about this page. Simply click on any of the tools to find out more. After plastering the new wall you will of course need to position some new skirting board and if any part of the job you have planned is in an external wall you will need to insert a damp proof course to protect the masonry from rising damp. Don't fancy doing this project yourself? We work with Plentific to ensure that we recommend only reliable and trustworthy tradesmen. Let DIY Doctor help you find a tradesmanFind a tradesman now! All project content written and produced by Tools to Complete the Above Project Bahco 466-400-M Box Spirit Level 40cm Magnetic DeWalt Extreme Masonry Drill Bit 8.00 x 120mm Faithfull Pointing Gun Kit (Mortar & Cement) Marshalltown 120D Cement Edger 8 x 6in Durasoft Handle Ragni R325 Cement Finishing Trowel 14 x 4in Ronseal Patio & Block Paving Seal Satin 5 Litre

Roughneck Block Wire Brush Wolfcraft B3630 Fz40 Spring Clamp 40mm Follow DIY Doctor on Facebook Follow DIY Doctor on Twitter Follow DIY Doctor on YouTube Follow DIY Doctor on Google Plus Follow DIY Doctor on Pinterest Follow DIY Doctor on Tumblr Was this project useful: Can’t read this code? Try a different code (By submitting your email address you are agreeing to DIY Doctor Ltd using it to contact you with relevant information and offers. It will not be passed onto 3rd parties) Any questions should be posted to our ForumAméliè de l’Enclos (active early 20th Century), French singer, billed as ‘the vocal phenomenon,’ who made United Kingdom appearances at the Tivoli, Stand, and other London and provincial music halls between about 1909 and 1911 (photo: Ernst Schneider, Berlin, 1908/09; postcard no. 5779, published by The Rapid Photo Printing Co Ltd, London, circa 1909. This postcard, stamp and postmark missing, was sent by Mlle. De l’Enclos to Luigi Motto, 12 Foster Road, Chiswick, London, W.

In the 1911 Census for that address, Luigi Motto (1894-1968) is recorded as a music student. He subsequently became a noted ‘cellist and sometime member of The Mozart Concert Party.) The Tivoli music hall, London, week beginning Monday, 3 January 1910 ‘The holiday programme at the Tivoli contains the names of several of the chief music-hall favourites. Miss Marie Lloyd, with her inimitable wink, Mr. Gus Elen, in excellent voice, Mr. George Formby, the Lancashire comedian, who becomes more of an artist the longer he sings, and last but not least (in one sense) Little Tich, all combine to keep the audience in the best of humours… . One of the newcomers to the Tivoli, Mlle. Améliè de l’Enclos, is described on the programme as a phenomenal soprano vocalist, and well deserves the title. She has, to begin with, quite a pleasant and well-trained voice. But over and beyond and far above it she produces some extraordinary vocal harmonics which reach to a positively dizzy height. They are much more like the notes of a flute than a human voice, and of course this part of her performance is merely a variety of trick-singing.

But for all that it is not only astonishing, but also, which is a different thing, agreeable to listen to.’ (The Times, London, Tuesday, 4 January 1910, p. 11c) ‘Some Close-range Studies of Personalities of the Week [beginning Monday, 21 November 1910] … ‘A Marvellous Singer ‘Mlle. Amelie de l’Enclos, who is singing at the Tivoli, is able to reach C sharp in alt.’ (The Sphere, London, Saturday, 26 November 1910, p. 181) * * * * * ‘FAMOUS SINGERS’ TOP NOTES. ‘What are the utmost limits of the human voice? Since, years ago, Mme. Patti reached G in altissimo, doctors of music have been asking themselves this question. As a matter of fact, no singer seems to have exceeded Mme. Patti’s range, although she herself seldom touched that not, her real top note being E flat. Since then, however, several singers have astonished the world by reaching G in alt. even more easily than Mme. Patti. ‘A few days ago a young singer, Miss Florence Macbeth, who has been hailed as ”a second Patti,” appeared at the Queen’s Hall and astounded the critics with her phenomenal voice, which ranges from low G sharp to the G in alt. – three octaves – which she can sing with a clear note.

‘Miss Macbeth was born in Minnesota, and is not the first American nightingale who has astonished the world. Miss [Ellen] Beach Yaw as one of the first to break all musical records on the other side of the Atlantic, and there is a passage in Mozart’s ”Magic Flute” which took her to F, but Miss Yaw demonstrated that she could sing a note higher than that – G. ‘Then there was Miss Editha Helena, a young American diva, who sang at the Empire, London, some time ago, and who claimed to have the greatest vocal register ever possessed by a woman. She could sing with perfect musical intonation (in addition to the two octaves of the ordinary good soprano) F in the altissimo, and even climb to the remote altitudes of the A above F. Besides, this, she could take the low G, and could thus, like Miss Macbeth, sing three octaves, a vocal achievement unprecedented in the whole history of music. ‘In 1910 Mlle. Camille Obar appears at the London Coliseum, and astounded the critics by raising her voice above the level of the C – that ”high C” which is commonly supposed to mark the limit of the ordinary soprano’s efforts in the ”top note” business.

As one critic put it, ”The dictionaries of music contained no name for Mlle. Obar’s vocal sky-rockets.” In the same year another French lady, Miss Amelie de l’Enclos, appeared in London and showed that she could reach the four-line C and C sharp, her voice retaining its marvellous purity at this great range. ‘One of the most wonderful singers who ever appeared on the London stage is undoubtedly Miss Florence Smithson, whose song, ”Light is my Heart,” was one of the chief numbers of ”The Arcadians” at the Shaftesbury Theatre. When she first sang the song she set all musical London discussing the wonderful note – F in alt. – which she reached, and not only rendered with astonishing purity and sweetness and without apparent effort, but held with undiminished strength for 24 bars. ‘Naturally the question arises, How do these phenomenal voices compare with the great prima donne of to-day and yesterday? Tetrazzini‘s trill on E flat in alt. has been her greatest and most admired effort.