Renovating your home often leads to radical changes. One of these innovations is most often resorted to: replacing doors with an arch or creating a new entrance.
Why is the arch often used for repairs?
Arched vaults add elegance to the apartment in which they are installed. In addition, the door arch preserves the area in small rooms, which is usually occupied for closing and opening the door. Do not forget that arches of any shape look good only in rooms with a high ceiling. So the arch in the doorway in a room with a ceiling height of less than 2.6 meters will be an unsuccessful element. The best option is with a distance of 2.5 meters between the floor and the opening lintel. If the entrance is transferred during the repair, then it is worth creating a new doorway above the usual one to create a full arch vault. Many try to make repairs in the apartment on their own, but they fail to understand how to create a door arch with their own hands . But the sequence of processes and repair materials are quite simple.
Choose shapes and design
Arched vaults are divided in form into several main types:
- A classic design that uses one regular radial arc.
- In the Art Nouveau style, the arch has an ellipsoidal arch shape.
- Design in a romantic style, which is formed from a difficult mixture of round and straight elements that create a single shape.
- The door arch in the Gothic image has strict rectangular shapes.
- In the hi-tech style, asymmetric irregular shapes are used in which one side of the opening can be round, the other rectangular or in the form of a wavy line.
The choice of form largely depends on the overall design of the apartment and the height of the ceilings, but the space for the manifestation of fantasy in this case has no limits.
How to create arched openings?
When creating arched openings use two simple ways:
- Hollow out the wall in accordance with a previously completed project.
- Seal the top of the existing doorway to shape the arch.
Hollowing out is used for doorways in oversized rooms with a pronounced decorative function. The door arch is created in the desired shape right in the wall according to the drawing.
In the second case, sheets of chipboard or drywall are used, with which the passage is sewn up and a certain shape is created. Such interior elements can be done independently.
The use of drywall for the design of the arched opening is preferable because of its ease of use and its extensive capabilities. The second way to create an artificial arch is most accessible for independent work.
How is a drywall arch created ?
A drywall door arch is created by implementing simple steps. The first thing to do is measure the doorway. Its width and height from the floor are measured. The finished door arch will reduce the passage height from 0.1 m to 0.15 m. The width of the arc is determined by the size of the opening. This value, divided in half, will be required to make the correct semicircle. An essential circumstance is the uniformity of the wall thickness, the verified vertical and horizontal passage. If they are not strictly vertical, then it will be necessary to make an adjustment using putty or plaster.
Creating the front of the arch
In order for the arch in the doorway to have a perfectly correct shape, you need to pay close attention to the calculation of its front part. The difficulty lies in the fact that you need to make two absolutely identical templates. To do this, use a pencil to which the thread of the required length is tied. For marking, you need to remember the previously measured opening width, divided in half. This value will be the required radius of the circle. For example, if the width of the passage is 1 meter, then the radius of the circle is 0.5 meters. On one side of the drywall, which will be at the top of the arched vault, you need to measure 0.6 m and draw a line.
The calculation is carried out as follows: 0.5 +0.1 = 0.6 m. Thus, 0.10 m is the distance from the top of the doorway at the highest point of the arch structure. The full size of the drywall should be 1 meter wide. Then we denote the center of the cut sheet at a distance of 0.50 m from any edge. Now we need a pencil with a rope that measures 0.5 m from the marked center and draws a semicircle. If the measurements are made correctly, a smooth semicircle is formed. Further, according to the markup obtained, the semicircle is cut out. The result is a rectangle with a semicircular notch 1 meter wide, 0.6 m high, and the height of its narrowest point should be 0.1 m.
Creating the main frame for the arch
To create the main frame for the arch, you need to make a metal profile. For accuracy, you need to measure two guides with a length of about 1 meter. They must be attached on both sides of the opening in parallel to each other. Fastening is carried out using threaded screws or self-tapping screws, depending on the structure of the wall. It is necessary to attach two parts of the frames on both sides of the door at a length of 0.6 m. For this, curved structures of the guide profile 300x200 mm are used. To close the lower end surface of the arch, make a frame to which a curved strip will be attached. The used metal profile is arched with metal shears. The profile is cut from two sides. Moving clockwise, cuts should be made every 4-5 cm. The strip thus prepared is attached to the edge in a semicircle. On the other hand, another similar prepared profile is attached. In order for the door arch from drywall to have a stable and solid structure, cross beams are inserted between these profiles, which are fixed in the arched frame with self-tapping screws with a press washer. Cross inserts can be made of profile residues.
Plasterboard installation in an arched opening
To install prepared drywall parts, they must be bent. To do this, moisten one side of the prepared strips with a wet sponge and treat them with a needle roller, but do not press strongly. Then carefully bend the workpiece, resting on the smooth wall of the drywall sheet. After the part is bent, you can begin to install in the arch arch. Drywall is carefully attached to the frame. When the arch in the doorway is finally inserted and secured to the perforated corner, it must be primed. After the soil has completely dried, plastering, painting or wallpapering is carried out. Installation of a door arch is an opportunity to emphasize an individual image of your apartment.
Little tricks
Drywall door arches require the purchase of a special arched drywall, which has a smaller thickness of 6.5 mm, higher quality cardboard and fiberglass reinforcement for flexibility.
Arched frames of traditional forms made of hard plastic can be bought in ready-made sets.
If illumination is planned, then the light supply is done at the stage of fixing the frame, but it is better to use not LED bulbs, but.
Adding arched door vaults as an architectural element requires a certain talent in design and building skills. Do-it-yourself door arch made of drywall is a wonderful element of interior decoration.