patio door - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

FishinAK · 05-11-2006, 02:45 PM

hello all,
first thanks for the help this forum has already provided.
So I need to replace a window with a prehung french door. The door in signifcantly larger than the window. I will probley have to remove a stud or 2. how can I be sure that this in ok and that these studs are not load bearing? The the door will be in the down stairs of a two story slab on grade house with a concrete footer. Any advice greatly appreciated.

Glasshousebltr · 05-11-2006, 02:53 PM

Remove the drywall inside at least 7 inches to each side of your rough opening. Build king studs and jacks to each side, install header, set door, replace drywall and trim her out.

Ya can't expect pros to advize you on a slap her in.

Bob

Multi-Tasker · 05-11-2006, 08:57 PM

You will need to frame the R.O. correctly as Bob said above or the new door will not stay working. Without good framing things will shift. I would treat the opening as load-bearing even if not necessary.
Joe

go dart · 05-11-2006, 09:38 PM

if your trying to work w/ the existing header you can gain an 1 1/2" by replacing the cripples w/ 1xs. although the preferred method is a complete header change i won't say i've never done this.

IHI · 05-11-2006, 11:02 PM

Going back to "overbuild it for your protection" we treat every wall as a load bearing wall on an exterior wall. Even though technically gable walls dont bear alot they still do and when the spans get wide enough it will bow a less than sufficent header.

Me personally I always try to work from the outside if posssible, but if they have some hard to work with or fragile exterior then we will gut from the inside to frame new opening, I try to go at least 12" beyond my proposed new rough opening that falls on a stud. This way I can double stud that point for ease of patching in new sheetrock. Then as far as installing the new header I like to have it rest on at least 2 jacks per side, and actually most codes reference x amount of jacks per floor load above anyways as they do triple headers for nominal lumber.

So being that you said the new door is significantly wider than the existing window you already know you have to reframe the thing so it's right in both header size (go at least 2x10 for a 5' opening or 2x12 for 6' opening. Kinda overkill in some circumstances but better safe than sorry. You might try pricing a single length LVL to get 2 headers out of one board, alot stronger than nominal lumber, no filler in between them and easier to nail togeteher perfectly since crowning is never an issue with them.

FishinAK · 05-12-2006, 11:52 AM

Wow thanks alot for all the help guys! I am begining to feel fairly confident about proceeding with this. It is not a gable wall so I was figuring it was probly load bearing. But it sounds like as long as I use a big enough header and plenty of jack studs It should be ok. Thanks again.