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New window installed, now door frame has shifted

New window installed, now door frame has shifted


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Old 10-18-16, 08:49 AM
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New window installed, now door frame has shifted

I'm in the middle of a first floor renovation that I've decided to do myself, with the exception of the new window in the kitchen. I hired a contractor to take out the 36" window and frame/install a 72" window. It's been in there a few months now, but pretty quickly after the install I noticed the door next to it has started to shift. I can shim the hinges and get the door flush in the frame again, but is there any reason to be concerned about this?

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Old 10-18-16, 09:16 AM
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Welcome to the forums!

That is quite a bit have you put a level on the door? floor?
 
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Old 10-18-16, 09:58 AM
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I've checked the window, which is level, and the floor next to the door when I installed the new cabinets. I had to shim up a little in this area but not all that much. I haven't checked the door or door frame, but I will when I get home.

Yeah... it is a lot... I haven't seen any foundation cracks. Also, this wall is on a cantilever if that makes a difference (there's probably a foot of overhang over the strip footing). I'm assuming the king stud here is on a beam, I should probably check to see how that looks.
 
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Old 10-18-16, 11:00 AM
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I would guess that the studs on the hinge side are sinking because of the added pressure from the header. If the basement or crawl space underneath is accessible my guess is that you would need to use a bottle jack to raise the floor joist... probably add squash blocks (floor joist sized framing) underneath the area between the door and window so that it cant sink.
 
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Old 10-18-16, 11:51 AM
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What do you mean by the stud "sinking"? Do you mean the joist under it has cracked/bent? If so, that would make sense since it's seeing a higher load now, I do have a crawl space and I'll take a look at it after work.
 
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Old 10-18-16, 12:01 PM
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Your joists are every 16". There is a good chance the studs between the door and window do not have solid framing underneath them... so the subfloor can potentially sink between joists. There needs to be solid blocking especially under the king and trimmers of your headers to fill the void between the subfloor and foundation... so basically the entire space under the wall that is between door and window.
 
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Old 10-19-16, 07:33 AM
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xsleeper, you were right kind of, this stud and joist just happen to be over the opening for the crawl space. To make matters worse, when they built the house, the blocking they used on top of the footing that spans the crawl space opening isn't even a solid piece, it's two pieces connected by one nail, it looks really bad.

I'm not sure what to do, it needs to be jacked up and reinforced, but the cabinets/countertops are already leveled and installed and I'm afraid jacking up the joist is going to either crack the countertop or in the least really get it off level.

It might be easier to just reinforce the existing blocking to prevent it from getting worse or failing, reframing the door frame to get it level, and use a little extra leveling compound for the floor by the wall. This joist does sit on a spread footing about 12 feet into the house, so the floor actually isn't that bad, just a little low at the wall.
 
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Old 10-19-16, 07:47 AM
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Kind of? LOL! If you can spare the headroom, build a 2x6 header and put a header under the sill plate that the joist is sitting on. (And then you would still need to put those squash blocks in... inbetween the subfloor and the sill plate... directly underneath the king and trimmer studs above... because if you don't the subfloor will bow when you jack the joist up.)

Jack the center of the header up slowly with a bottle jack until it is back where it belongs. (until there is no gap between the top of the header and the sill plate) Then put 2 studs (trimmers) under each end of the header and release the bottle jack.

You said the "door has started to shift" just recently, so my guess is that you can jack it up without affecting the cabinets much. But like I said, you would want to jack slowly... go upstairs and look, jack some more, etc.

The sinking is likely already putting stress on the countertop and cabinets, (just in the opposite direction) so you want to reverse that before it cracks from sinking.

And then you would still need to put those squash blocks in directly underneath the king and trimmer studs above... because if you don't the subfloor will bow.
 
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Old 10-19-16, 08:08 AM
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well the cabinets and countertop was put in a couple weeks ago, well after the door came out of plum, when I said recently I meant since the window was installed a few months ago. I checked the level of the countertop and it's still good, so I don't think it's sunk anymore since then. If I raise the joist to where it's supposed to be, it will absolutely put my cabs and countertop out of level.
 
 

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