Updating 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 in repairs?
Arched vaults add elegance to the apartment in which they are installed. In addition, the door arch saves space in small spaces, which is usually occupied by closing and opening the door. Do not forget that vaults of any shape look good only in rooms with high ceilings. So an arch in a doorway in a room with a ceiling height of less than 2.6 meters would be an unfortunate element. The best option is with a distance between the floor and the opening lintel of 2.5 meters. If the entrance is transferred during the repair, then it is worth creating a new doorway higher than usual to create a full-fledged arched vault. Many try to make repairs in the apartment on their own, but they fail to understand how a door arch is created with their own hands. But the sequence of processes and materials for repairs are quite simple.
Choose shapes and designs
Arched vaults are divided by form into several main types:
- Classic design that uses onecorrect radial arc.
- In Art Nouveau style, the arch has an elliptical shape of the vault.
- A romantic style design that is formed from an intricate mixture of round and straight elements that create a single shape.
- The door arch in the Gothic image has strict rectangular shapes.
- Hi-tech style uses asymmetric irregular shapes, in which one side of the opening can be rounded, the other - rectangular or in the form of a wavy line.
The choice of shape largely depends on the overall design of the apartment and the height of the ceilings, but the space for imagination in this case has no limits.
How to create arched openings?
When creating arched openings, two simple methods are used:
- Hollow out the wall in accordance with the previously completed project.
- Compacting the top of an existing doorway to form an arch.
Gouging is used for doorways in oversized rooms with a pronounced decorative function. The door arch is created in the desired shape directly in the wall according to the drawing.
In the second case, sheets of chipboard or drywall are used, with the help of which the passage is sewn up and a certain shape is created. Such interior elements can be done independently.
Application for the construction of an arched opening of drywall is preferable because of its ease of use and its extensive capabilities. The second way to create an artificial archmost accessible for independent work.
How is a drywall arch made?
A plasterboard 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 height of the passage 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 thickness of the walls, the verified verticals and the horizontal of the passage. If they are not strictly vertical, then it will be necessary to make an adjustment using putty or plaster.
Creating the front part of the arch
In order for the arch in the doorway to have a perfectly correct shape, it is necessary to pay close attention to the calculation of its front part. The difficulty lies in the fact that it is necessary to make two absolutely identical templates. For this, a pencil is used, to which a thread of the required length is tied. For marking, you need to remember the previously measured width of the opening, divided in half. This value will be the desired 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 drywall in width should be 1 meter. 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, which 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 resulting markup, a semicircle is cut out. The result is a rectangle with a semi-circle cutout 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 about 1 meter long. They must be attached on both sides of the opening in a parallel position 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 in 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 vault, a frame is made to which a curved strip will be attached. The used metal profile is given an arcuate shape with metal scissors. The profile is cut on both sides. Moving clockwise, you need to make cuts every 4-5 cm. The strip prepared in this way is attached to the edge in a semicircle. On the other sideanother similar prepared profile is attached. In order for the plasterboard door arch to have a stable and durable 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 from profile remnants.
Installing drywall in an archway
To install prepared drywall parts, they must be bent. To do this, moisten one side of the prepared strips with a damp sponge and process them with a spiked roller, but do not press hard. Then you should carefully bend the workpiece, leaning on the smooth wall of the drywall sheet. After the part is bent, you can proceed with installation in the arched vault. Drywall is carefully attached to the frame. When the arch in the doorway is finally inserted and fixed to the perforated corner, it must be primed. After the soil has completely dried, plastering, painting or wallpapering is carried out. Installing a door arch is an opportunity to emphasize the individual image of your apartment.
Tricks of the trade
Gypsum board door arches require the purchase of special arched drywall, which has a thinner thickness of 6.5mm, higher quality paperboard, and fiberglass reinforcement for flexibility.
Traditionally shaped hard plastic arched frames can be purchased in kits.
If lighting is planned, then the light supply is done at the stage of fixing the frame, but betteruse not light bulbs, but LED strips.
Adding arched doorways as an architectural element requires some design talent and building skills. Do-it-yourself plasterboard door arch is a wonderful element of interior design.
