Tips for under stairs storage creation?

[J-P]

Hi There - 

I have been a silent reader of this community and have implemented quite a few of the projects that were shown up here. Having flexed my hands outside of the house I think I am now ready to do something inside (would be perfect for the winter that would come up).

I live in a double storey built around 13-15 years ago. There is space below the stairs that is currently covered that i would like to open up with a door to use for storage. I did some search with stud finder and find a gap for the door width and also opened the switch socket and peeked in a bit. I would like to what is the best way to assess if I can open to a door width and build it as a storage? Would like to avoid damage to the gypsum board as less as i can (havent been great in fixing them :)).

I also know that there is a house few streets away with my same layout and they do have storage below the stairs.

Thanks,

JP

[J-P]

Hi @EricL - don’t have a proper inspection camera. I was referring to my phone camera. Will try opening with the saw and let you know 

[J-P]

@EricL , @MitchellMc  - gathered courage and time to tear it open today. Gladly it was lot better than what I imagined. Here are some videos of how it looks 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r3fbnWp8fNwtG7ydz4We_GnXxe7xtkxA/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18zFCdx65gz1CH_TnKxDY0hrNXfb5Yj88/view?usp=drivesdk

few questions:

1. The gap between the studs is 450mm and the stud on the right wouldnt give enough space to put architrave on the outside. Can I add another stud as the height of the door frame and add a vertical stud on top to the entire width?

2. I need to remove the stud on the left to create more space for door. Don’t think it is load bearing but I am still planning to put 2 more to the left of it before I remove this. Would that be fine?

3. Also any tips on the order to further demolition to course along the way becos of some rookie mistakes?

Thanks in advance for all great advices.

Thanks,

JP

[MitchellMc]

Hi @J-P,

Take a look at this discussion on How to install a door in an internal wall. I've added some renderings to that discussion that should give you a basic idea of how to frame out the door. You can add timberwork to frame your door into your cavity. You could assume that if you add additional studs, you'd be able to remove the one in the way. However, you need to determine whether the wall is load-bearing before doing any work. As mentioned previously, you'll need a professional to assess the wall. There's not a huge concern here as you are not removing the wall entirely, but from a duty-of-care standpoint, I need to recommend you first establish if the wall is loadbearing before suggesting you can manipulate it.

The next step in the demolition process will be cutting the plaster back to the required width so you can install your additional timberwork and remove the ones obstructing the doorway. Don't cut the plaster back beyond this, as we want to keep the wall sheet intact so the architraves cover the edges of the cutout.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

[J-P]

@MitchellMc - Thanks for your recommendation at the right time. I was planning on removing the plasterboard completely on the inside to put a stud (full size to the left of the existing one that I remove. But based on what I see in the other discussion, I can probably get away without that and just add a frame. (Will also get it assessed from someone who is an expert on this). I think the frame will do portion of load bearing that existing stud might be doing.

Thanks for your help.

JP

[J-P]

Finally finished it today after working for about 3 months

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/t5/Living-and-Bedroom/Under-Stairs-Storage/m-p/170788#M9278

@MitchellMc / @EricL  - Thanks for your guidance