Needing help replacing exterior door
#1
03-16-09, 08:58 PM
Needing help replacing exterior door
I am about to replace and old exterior door. The door is wooden with a glass window & I will replace it with a solid steel covered door. The door is a side exit from my garage.
The doorway is 81 inches high (the normal opening is 84). Rather than pay an extra $200 for a specialty ordered door or cutting 3 inches off a normal door (which is what the builder did back in 1973) I would like to raise the header and do it properly.
How do I determine if the wall is a loadbearing wall and what precaustions should I take? The rafters run perpendicular to this doorway.
The doorway is 81 inches high (the normal opening is 84). Rather than pay an extra $200 for a specialty ordered door or cutting 3 inches off a normal door (which is what the builder did back in 1973) I would like to raise the header and do it properly.
How do I determine if the wall is a loadbearing wall and what precaustions should I take? The rafters run perpendicular to this doorway.
#2
03-16-09, 10:46 PM
Your clew to a bearing wall is what's below it. To support a loads above, loads must be transmitted to the earth. A bearing wall supports a load or loads directly. It will have a footing, foundation, or pillars and beams below it. An exterior wall over a slab or a foundation wall is a bearing wall or “load bearing wall” (your garage wall).
Your clew as to what to do about it: how much weight is above it? Is there another story, two stories, or a deck? Joists can be temporally supported. Look at the framing within the door opening. At the moment the king and trimer studs on either side and the header above are transmitting the load (above) to the ground across the opening through the bottom plate. Based on good sense (what's above???): build a similar frame a short distance away from the opening that supports the joists while you work. For very light loads this may be unnecessary.
One of your biggest changes may be dealing with the siding and installing a drip cap.
Your clew as to what to do about it: how much weight is above it? Is there another story, two stories, or a deck? Joists can be temporally supported. Look at the framing within the door opening. At the moment the king and trimer studs on either side and the header above are transmitting the load (above) to the ground across the opening through the bottom plate. Based on good sense (what's above???): build a similar frame a short distance away from the opening that supports the joists while you work. For very light loads this may be unnecessary.
One of your biggest changes may be dealing with the siding and installing a drip cap.
