DIY: Enclosing an Old Doorway

Helped a friend out with closing up what used to be an old doorway in their house.
No real Amazon links available for the tools or products used, as everything came from Home Depot and Ryobi doesn't have much of a cross-over with Amazon.
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[@benjaminruggiero420]

Maybe I missed it not sure, but good to mention to use a drywall mud designed for taping. It has glue or something in it to make the tape stick. Not the filling type mud which is only for holes and such. My first times taping I wasn't succesfull since I was using the wrong type, got frustrated until I found out to use the right one. Magically started to feel like a pro. Anyway, ended up closing our dining room to add an extra bedroom because of this video. Thank you, great stuff!

[@rickperroset9775]

I have internal double doors that I want to remove and wall in the opening and your video showed me how to do it! It was easier than I thought it would be given that I have never built an internal wall before. Thanks for education!

[@BrandX32]

Nice job/video brother! Screw the haters! Appreciate your humor and honesty throughout this.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Thank you! I always aim to make it as DIY as possible for people, which includes all of the good and the bad that happens. lol

[@mikedee4399]

Thanks for posting this video!! It was very helpful and you make it look so easy and explain everything really well. For the past year I have been recently working for my neighbor who is a realtor/handyman doing upgrades and renovating houses that are getting ready to to be put on the market. And I have learned how to do with many different things by watching videos like yours, I appreciate people like yourself that take the time making videos to help people out. I came across your video because I have been wanting to close off a bedroom doorway to separate it into two different bedrooms and I was worried about doing it myself. But then after I watched your video I had no more worries following along with your step-by-step instructions. I used to work installing insulation and like you said usually only insulate outside walls, but feeling like my walls are thin I added some the noise reduction. I'm definitely a subscriber now and can't wait to watch other videos you have done to complete more projects

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Thank you! There will be more renovation and building videos soon as I begin more renovations on my house in the near future.

[@ether4real]

Ay man. Great video. I really liked the step by step narrative with nothing left out. Bout to do this asap.

[@odettecummingsfernald8671]

Thank you for this video. I enjoyed the entire process and gives me confidence to close an extra doorway.

[@mrspiffy1981]

Thanks for posting. As a general point (I'm a DIYer) it's best to avoid butting up drywall / plasterboard to the floor, instead leave a 1-2cm gap. It's highly absorbant and any moisture will eventually destroy it. By doing so, it reduces the risk of any condensation / spillages / flooding rising up the board.

[@bencummings2182]

Thanks for posting helpful 👍

[@positivevibrations.4607]

I really learned a lot from this video. Your very precise and informative.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Thank you!

[@damarisvidiella4310]

We enjoyed your video. Very informative and well done!

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Thank you!

[@jph76r]

Thanks for the video!

[@cindyweaver9474]

Loved your video!

[@imjusthere6940]

This is the perfect video for what I’m attempting. Thanks!

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Glad I could help! If you have questions, just let me know.

[@aboubakrysow4300]

Hi there! this video is very simple and very helpful. I think I can do it. Hopefully I will be able to close my daughter' s walkthrough door. Thank you very much.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

If you end up having any questions during the process, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to help out.

[@hamrickgalanispllc9916]

Really helpful. Thank you!

[@gfuzz7]

Thanks for the video, saved my life!

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Glad I could help!

[@chrisyboy219]

How awesome is it that you got Sulu to voice over this?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Haha! I will happily take that as a compliment.

[@wyntertremlett2049]

Hi there! I'm a new homeowner and am starting to fix up my home. Thank you SO much for this video! Quick question and I'm so sorry if it's dumb lol- how come there is no insulation that goes into this new section of wall?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Heya, not a dumb question at all! Typically interior walls don't have any insulation in them since they're in a conditioned space already. However if you're wanting to have an interior wall have a bit of sound dampening fiberglass insulation does a wonderful job of cutting down the amount of sound that transfers between walls.

[@kiacustom9214]

Usually you can get away with not insulating a wall that’s indoors on both sides. For instants, if the other side of that wall is outside, you would need insulation. Hopefully all the walls surrounding his house are already insulated.

[@soccerluvr1269]

Great video! It’s literally the only video I’ve seen that shows what I want to do. I have a question, you mentioned you needed to use a drill bit to screw in the drywall. Would you mind elaborating on that? Also, what’s the length of the screws you used? Thank you

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Thank you! You don't necessarily need a drill bit, the bit I used is a drywall dimpling bit, but a standard phillips head bit works fine. The dimpling bit just reduces the chance of driving the screw too deep in to the drywall. The drywall screws I used were an inch and a quarter.

[@soccerluvr1269]

@@JoeMartinMVC I appreciate it. Thank you!

[@kevindavis3369]

Thanks! I’m going to be turning a closet from 96 inches tall to 80 inches. This makes me a lot less nervous.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

If you end up having any questions during the process, feel free to reach out and I'll do what I can to help out.

[@Baylorbball72]

Is this the same process you’d do if walking off a walk thru that has no door or anything but has door trim on it?

[@nickknight6130]

Thank you for your video, I like it, I have a question can i start the drywall from buttom or lower first, is that ok? or have to start from the top like you did, thank you very much, Gbu

[@JoeMartinMVC]

You can start from the bottom, that’s fine. The reason most start at the top and work down is because they want a factory straight edge at the top to keep things as straight as possible. But if you make a clean cut, or use a good tape for the top you’d be fine there.

[@jdkida]

Do you recommend removing the corner bead if it was used?

[@voyageur4315]

Can you explain why you did not piece in the bottom and top plates and studs? Is it because you didn't want to do any toenailing/toe screwing?

[@Ikertxu5]

Hi! Thanks for this video, I find it really educative as I want to do something like that at my place! Question how long would you account in total for the enclosing? and how much you estimate for newbie Appreciate it

[@JoeMartinMVC]

I'd say you're looking at around 2 hours to install everything, then another 2 hours of drywall work. The main thing that's going to take some time as a newbie is the drywall, which could easily get up to 6 hours depending on how well you're able to apply your drywall mud.

[@thrill102]

I would probably add some insulation just in case it’s going to be a bedroom

[@duke1281]

You forgot to say: "who am i to question it, i get paid wither way"... 😅😅

[@rosewinter3176]

Then sand, prime, paint, glue/nail back on the baseboard?

[@benagav]

Thanks for posting this! Extremely informative! Quick question, do people normally paint the entire room after this?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Usually just the wall that was repaired, but if you have a hard time finding a close enough paint match, then yes.

[@toby-green]

What thickness would you say the 'mud' is over the dry wall board? I'm taking a door out and the wall either side was skimmed again when a builder was taking another wall out in the room. When fitting the stud frame would it be best to expose the framing that the door framing is attached to (I guess that may happen anyway as I take the door frame away, but depending on how I do it...) so that the new stud wall is perfectly aligned with the existing wall framing. I guess since the existing wall has a double skim I will need to apply more mud... ?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Typically you'd be at around 1/8 inch thick for a skim coat of mud. There's no need to expose the framing that you'll be framing in, as long as you can get the interior wall framing to connect to the old framing via screw or nail. You would need to apply more coats of mud in that instance, but could also make it easier to blend the seams together if you sand the existing wall.

[@RathalosEmperor]

Any reason why you choose wood screws instead of nailing with a gun?

[@Someone_VIP]

Thanks for the video... the most helpful that I've found so far. Thank you! Do you need to screw the bottom 2x4 to the floor and the top 2x4? After the framing, how do you determine the thickness of drywall that is needed? Are the studs/current walls all standard so that once the frame is up, I should know what thickness of drywall to get? Thanks again!

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Thank you! It's not necessary to attach the 2x4s to the floor, and could potentially hit a pipe that's underneath the floor, so I would advise against doing so. The top, however, I do suggest screwing in to. It's best to have 3 sides of contact to mitigate any movement or fluctuation in the wall that could cause flexing and cracking of the drywall joints. Some recommend using contact adhesive on the bottom plate before putting it down, which can also help with that but generally isn't needed for spans under 8 feet. As for the drywall thickness, just measure the entire width of the wall, subtract the thickness of your 2x4s (3.5 inches) and divide by two. So in a standard wall you have a wall that is 4.5 inches thick as it has the 2x4 (3.5 inches) and two pieces of half inch drywall.

[@Someone_VIP]

@@JoeMartinMVC thanks again, keep up the awesome work!!!

[@JoeMartinMVC]

@@Someone_VIP Thank you!

[@meganvelez9339]

Would you follow the same procedure in closing up a pass through cutout in a wall? Like a little cut out window that people sometimes have from the kitchen to another room?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

You sure would.

[@addymunns4784]

Any tips on enclosing a wall with bullnose corners? Would this be the same process or should I remove the corners first?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

The bullnose could actually make it easier if the nose is recessed. If the bullnose is proud of the surface (further out than the surrounding wall) it would have to be removed to not have a very visible hump in that section of the wall.

[@percyp126]

Great video man! Any advice I just bought a home this is my exact same situation except it has two barn sliding doors. Any other alternatives to cover or close off a walk way like this? The doors weren’t installed properly and I’m just going to get rid of them.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

It depends on the route that you want to go. If you just want to remove the doors and leave the opening, that's the easiest way. You'd just have a few screws or lag bolts holding the door hardware on and then you'd patch the drywall which would be easy. If you want to remove the doors and close up the hole, it'd be similar to this process. If you wanted to make it a regular door, that's also an option as you can be a complete interior door for around $150 from Home Depot and they're very simple to install. You could also use an accordion style door, or bifold doors, but it all just depends on what your goal is for the space.

[@CoH_88]

I have a cased opening that spans a little over 8 feet on our main level sitting on a concrete slab and wood plank flooring. Should I just put the baseboard over top of the flooring or cut it to expose the concrete? Also glue or drill to secure since it’s just over 8ft? Thanks!

[@JoeMartinMVC]

The main question is how you feel about the ease of work for your floor. If you believe you'll have to rip it up for any reason, your best bet would be to cut out the 3.5 inch by 8 foot section so your 2x4 can sit inside of it and then your drywall and baseboard would sit over it. As for gluing/attaching to the bottom, I wouldn't bother doing so. You can attach it on the sides and top and it would be fine.

[@CoH_88]

@@JoeMartinMVC great thanks! If it’s just preference I’ll probably just leave the flooring for ease of work. I definitely have more confidence to try this myself and save some $!

[@lorraineprenderville]

If you have a space that you want to close in like this but its only a single door width (34inchs) do you need to build and insert a frame ? Does the framing assist the surrounding areas structurally or is it just so you can put up the plasterboard etc ? Probably a silly question but hey i dont know the answer 🤷‍♀️

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Structurally it makes no difference as it would not be adding any strength really, so you're fine on that front. It would only be for attaching the drywall to, as any span greater than 24 inches tends to cause drywall to flex too much and break loose from the wall.

[@lorraineprenderville]

Thank you for explaining this. Much appreciated 👍

[@xxvodanhxx]

Does the air gap help with noise supression? I just moved into a place where they closed off a normal doorway and put a cabinet to fill the gap but I can clearly hear the person on the phone in that room. They probably only boarded it up and put the cabinet up. Would adding a layer of dry wall help with the sound or is it just going through the normal walls?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Sadly the air gap actually amplifies the sound a bit. If you were looking to mitigate sound transfer you'd want to put insulation in between the stud bays. Another layer of drywall will help some, but ideally you'd want a layer of mass loaded vinyl or an acoustic insulation board between the two pieces of drywall.

[@rickperroset9775]

I noticed that you did put any installation in our new wall. Would installation help with noise reduction and room temp?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Correct, typically speaking most people do not install insulation on interior walls. However doing so would indeed help with noise reduction. If you're going for noise reduction you'd also want to apply caulking at the top, bottom, and sides, and on the 2x4s before screwing in the drywall. If you really want to make it better, you would use a 2x6 base plate and top plate and stagger the 2x4s then weave the insulation between the studs going horizontally instead of vertically like you traditionally do. I do plan to eventually do a video displaying this, just have to build a faux space for it since I don't have a spot to do that myself currently.

[@DexterMorgan]

When you realize there’s no other door and you’ve closed yourself in 😟

[@apophis40123]

How much was the cost to do this? Rough estimate?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Materials-wise, between $100 and $200. If you hired someone, $1200-1500.

[@nemo9396]

2:45 You should have titled this "how not to enclosing an old doorway"

[@heretoreview8331]

Do you have a video on how to cut out a interior doorway in drywall? How much would it cost a contractor to do so?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

I don't currently. Comically I actually just did that with installing interior French doors for someone yesterday, but wasn't able to record it. Cost for a contractor can range from $300-3000 to install an interior doorway. The reason for such a large fluctuation is because of what could be inside the wall. If it's a standard wall that's not load bearing and doesn't have any electrical or plumbing behind it, it's cheap to do. If it's load bearing, that's the most expensive one as there's a lot of extra work to do to not compromise the structural integrity of the house.

[@VibrantDesigns]

So I have glass section above my doors. They are ugly. I want to remove the old doors and the glass section above. I would like to replace the glass section with a wall. So there will be nothig above the door, just wall. Would this method work to create the wall above the door? This in interior

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Yeah it would be a very similar process. The only difference that may be needed is if the wall goes all the way from floor to ceiling you'd want to double up the top plate (2x4 that goes on the top). But besides that potential scenario, yeah the same process.

[@VibrantDesigns]

@@JoeMartinMVC thanks

[@juditzubor2302]

Only one layer of mud on top of tape? Did you sand it after? No cracking later at the joints?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Nah, I did a total of 3 layers and sanded in between them. I didn't show the full drywall mudding process in this video as this video was already very long and that's a whole other subject to cover. No cracking or shrinking at the joints when you use tape and don't use the the pre-made mud that takes forever to dry and then shrinks.

[@EmkealohaSappito]

If someone wanted to reopen the doorway, where would they start and how would they do that?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Putting a hole in a wall can be quite different. If you're just putting in a standard 36 inch door there's minimal risk, but if you're going for a french door or anything much larger there is a concern if it is going in to a load bearing wall. If you've assessed that the wall is not load bearing, then you would simply measure out where you want the door to go, plus 3 inches all the way around, cut out the drywall from that area, cut out the studs in the wall, and built a rectangular frame with doubled up 2x4s inside of the space that you cut out, and mount your door frame. If it's a load bearing wall it's more difficult and you'd have to see if additional support is needed, if you need jackstuds supporting the door, frame and wall, etc. Eventually I'd like to make a video on it, just haven't had an opportunity where I've had to add a door anywhere yet.

[@normaortiz5099]

You forgot the insulation??

[@ericsmith4962]

Did you attach it to the floor?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

I did not. I utilized three points of contact with both sides and the top so I did not attach the bottom to the concrete as it wasn't necessary for such a short span.

[@joendrsn]

where is the finnished product????? i would have hard time believing this job was not noticable!!!!

[@ukelilly]

Thats what I need to do but I want to make the middle 2 studs wider so I can add an interior door. I need to add one horizontal wood at the top ( whr the top of the door would be) and screw in a prehung door ?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Why would you make the top two studs wider? A prehung door is designed to go in to a 2x4 frame so it wouldn't need to be any wider than the 2x4 header.

[@ukelilly]

@@JoeMartinMVC Hi. Not the 2 top studs. The 2 middle vertical studs. It's because I want to install a door in the near future but want to close it off right now.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

@@ukelilly Ah, my apologies, I misunderstood your comment. For placing a door in you'd just want to measure the opening area for the door frame, add another half inch on for wiggle room and shimming, and it'd be good there. On the top portion of the door framing you'd still want to have your studs be 16 inches on center. Eventually I'll be making a video on how to frame out doors as well.

[@YousifMustafa-l9m]

I know this sounds a bit rude but how much did this cost final?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Not rude at all. Materials wise: $30 in drywall Wood: $25 Box of Screws: $12 Drywall Tape and Mud: $25 Total: ~$100 in materials Cost for client: $1000 if I recall correctly.

[@YousifMustafa-l9m]

@@JoeMartinMVC thank you so much!

[@nikosmurph196]

How much does a job like this cost

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Materials wise, around $200. Paying someone to do it, $1000-1500.

[@e.9370]

No insulation ?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Interior walls typically don't have insulation unless you're looking to sound proof or sound dampen the room. There was no request for insulation, so none was put in. Also the rest of the wall doesn't have insulation.

[@sleepsounds6254]

So you don’t need to remove any of the flooring ?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

It's not necessary, but if you were doing this over hard tile or other similar hard flooring you'd want to cut it to make it easier to remove in the future if you ever change the flooring. But it's not required to do that as there are tools to cut flush against a wall.

[@sundo-pf5zv]

Why not put any NOISE insulation in there?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Client didn't want it, and it's not uncommon to not have insulation in between internal walls here.

[@Tr0nzoid]

They must not care about noise, whereas I can't stand to hear anything. That's my reason for putting in more walls.

[@roebucksadventure]

what would be the estimate of doing this with a doorway to a room.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Doing it yourself, about $150 in materials. Paying someone, around $400-600

[@alexisromero278]

You never measured anything of the boards when you screwed them? Unless you had pre marked the distance

[@JoeMartinMVC]

I marked the locations for the studs at the 4 minute mark in the video. Or were you referring to something else?

[@emoneyy030]

Hi I have a question I am enclosing a door way just like this I just don’t understand how you measured the thickness of wood you needed I measured it and it’s 4 5/8 inches, what thick ness of wood AND dry wall should I put up

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Most standard walls are just regular 2x4s with half inch drywall on each side. The only reason it would ever be thicker or thinner would be if it were an external wall or a mobile home typically. Alternatively you would just measure the wall that you're closing in and subtract one inch from that measurement to know what size lumber you need as two pieces of half inch drywall equals to one inch. If the remaining amount is 3.5 inches it would be a standard 2x4 (2x4s actually measure at 1.5x3.5 inches)

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Totally missed the part where you listed the 4 5/8, my bad. That'd be a standard 2x4 frame with half inch drywall.

[@emoneyy030]

@@JoeMartinMVC thank you !

[@gitgit1995]

Why not use brick?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Unfortunately I'm not much of a bricklayer

[@seankehil01]

You forgot to put the inclination in. 💁🏾‍♂️

[@gitgit1995]

Insulation?

[@Brixx-kx2jf]

@@gitgit1995😂😂😂

[@Johnnyhernandez1993]

The incline was transferred to the bottom of the studs. When he puts the frame in place, the bottom will have the incline while the tops stay straight. Otherwise the header wouldn’t sit flush due to the drop

[@gailthompson3267]

It looks too wide

[@gailthompson3267]

It worked!! Good job.

[@JoeMartinMVC]

@@gailthompson3267 Haha, thank you!

[@khasaning]

Где звукоизоляция между гипсокартоном ?

[@JoeMartinMVC]

Over here we don't typically put sound proofing or insulation between interior walls unless it's specifically requested. It'd be a wonderful addition, and it's one I do for my own home, but most people over here don't see the value in it. Здесь мы обычно не укладываем звукоизоляцию или изоляцию между внутренними стенами, если это специально не требуется. Это было бы прекрасным дополнением, и я делаю его для своего дома, но большинство людей здесь не видят в этом ценности.

[@khasaning]

@@JoeMartinMVC Thanks for your reply. You are the best!