Putting in an interior doorway: Part 1

Our house is over 100 years old and there was an addition made in the 50s or so (we guess) that added a kitchen, bath, bedroom, etc.  This section of the house is on the back and is accessible via the kitchen.  Since we put our woodstove in the living room (on the front of the house), we've talked about adding a doorway so the heat can flow into the back as well.  The appropriate wall is a load bearing wall so it's essential we do this correctly.   (Good thing for Steve!)

Steve started the ciphering early this week by drilling a bunch of holes to determine our stud placement. The age of our house makes many of these standard measurements, non standard (and electronic stud finders don't work on plaster walls). Who knew such long drill bits even existed?  Just one of the many gifts left from the prior owners.

(Some of the pictures aren't so hot...the camera doesn't like dark interiors, but you will still get the idea.)

Next Steve measured and drew a line marking where to cut our opening.

He was ready to go!

He cut the outline of the door first while I used the shop vacuum to suck up dust, etc.

The chipping out of the plaster was easy, but messy.

Insulation!  We didn't foresee this.  It was an exterior wall, but the opposite side is dry walled (with plaster on top).  hmm.  Lots of mysteries in this house.

The insulation made the air dirty no matter how much I vacuumed, but we kept at it.

Look at those native boards!  Steve thinks we might have horsehair plaster too.  Interesting history.

Here's the door way cut from one side.  Since it's a load bearing wall, the 2x4s come out last.

Here's one view with the door cut.

And looking the other way.  It's great!  Already the heat is dispersing marvelously.  Next we support the  ceilings, remove the middle 2x4 and put in a new 2x6 header to span the opening.