Can someone explain/defend the sledgehammer scene?

I'm writing this not because I'm a hater, but because I'm not sure if I'm missing something. Actually, I'm a big fan of this movie, I've watched it many times, but there's one scene I always kind of stumble over.

When the three main characters are searching for Shell Beach, they arrive at a brick wall with a billboard poster on it. Earlier in the movie, we're shown that Murdoch has the ability ("tuning") to put a door in a solid wall, and then walk through. After tearing through the poster, Murdoch and Bumstead suddenly start pounding at the wall with two sledgehammers that conveniently happen to be there. After they create a sizeable hole, Murdoch then remembers his "tuning" ability which he uses to push through the wall, and they are made aware of their ultimate situation.

Wouldn't it have been a lot easier just to use his ability to put a door in the wall, or at least a window to see what's on the other side? We find out that walking through would have been fatal, but it seems a lot of energy/effort/time (especially because the Strangers are pursuing them) is wasted unnecessarily. Is this just a case of the creators saying, "Wouldn't it be cool if they did this?" rather than have the characters use their heads? It's not a plot hole and I'm not mad, but am I overthinking this?