Cut stud in load bearing wall?


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Old 10-05-13, 11:07 PM
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Cut stud in load bearing wall?

Hello,

Today I started a project to install a bathroom fan. I need to change a one gang electrical box to a two gang. Unfortunately the distance between the king stud of the door frame and the common stud of the wall is only 3 inches. I need 4 1/8 by my measurement. As the wall is perpendicular to the other load bearing walls in the house I thought I'd be ok to cut the common stud. But of course there is a single truss in the attic to the top of the king stud.

So I'm sorta stumped on how to proceed. I would really like to get the two gang in but modifying a semi-load bearing wall seems potentially excessive.

I wondered if the common stud 3 inches from the king stud is serving much purpose as the second stud is only 19 inches from the king stud. Do you think I could cut it?
 
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Old 10-06-13, 03:11 AM
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Welcome to the forums! Why couldn't you use an over under double switch to solve the framing problem? You can probably cut the stud in question, but fitting a new box may be a problem. I'd look into the over under switch first to see if it would accommodate you.

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Old 10-06-13, 09:12 AM
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Thanks!

That is an option but I'd like to use a timer for the fan rather than just a switch. The other issue is that the 18 cu inch box is at capacity with 3 14/2s running into it. One of the 14/2s is the wall lights that are the only lights in the bathroom. I cannot think of a good way to use an attic junction box.
 

Last edited by btcabuilder; 10-06-13 at 09:31 AM.
 

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