I'm in the process of installing furring strips + sheetrock on the inside of my exterior walls, and I'm also now planning on replacing my front door. In the process of removing the front door molding I found out the corner wall of my house has seperated a 1/2" along the frame of the front door. At first I was very concerned, but after further investigation I'm not sure if it's actively separating, or if it's settled this was years ago. [B]1st picture[/B]: The exterior walls are structural clay tile with a brick facade on the first floor, and stucco covering the second floor. I've known there was some issue from the exterior of the house, but never realized the seriousness of it until the molding/interior plaster. For years the front has looked like the first picture, clearly there was separation at the top. But it hasn't visibly gotten any worse. And the crack stops behind the aluminum trim. It does not continue up corner through the clay tiles/stucco on the 2nd floor of the house. There is an a small "sun room" attached to the house/wall that's visible in the picture. [B]2nd picture[/B]: After removing the interior molding on the door, some of the plaster came down with it. I saw that existing "header" was an old style 2x4 underneath the structural clay tile. And you can see in the picture, the corner has separated enough that it appears the header is barely holding/overlapping the concrete support on the right side. Outside, underneath the brick facade on is a steel plate holding up the bricks across the top of the door. (Visible in the last picture). [B]3rd and 4th pictures[/B]: Just to make things easier to see, I outlined some of the wood in the picture in red, and concrete the installers used in blue. Like I said, I was less concerned after further investigation, both the wood header and also the other red-outlined wood "support" on the right, do not appear to be carrying any weight. As you can see in the 4th picture, the header slides out without any effort, the same goes for the 1x4 on right. I'm hoping that means the structural clay tile is still doing it's job well, and if I can remove just the header and replace it with a longer steel plate to provide more support than it currently provides? I'd also fill the gap beneath the 1x4 with concrete. [B]5th picture[/B]: I'm planning on getting a new pre-hung exterior door, hopefully that I can secure into the walls better than the current (original) door has been all these years. Basically it was secured to the moulding. :( But I'm wondering how can I prevent further separation? I know waterproofing the outside is key. I should also mention the (again, larger, old-style) 2x8 joists in the ceiling run in the same direction as the header (across the door) and there is one almost embedded in the clay tile right above the door. My point being they should be helping hold that wall. Thanks Edit: I didn't know exactly which forum this belonged in, I assumed it was a more a structural framing issue, than exterior brick?

Removing a load bearing wall and replacing with an LVL beam. I have the opinions from a couple contractors but I want to verify the size of the beam needed. I talked to tech support at LPcorp (a mfg. of the LVL beams) and he wouldn't exactly give me an answer but he did say the key is determining the PLF (pounds per lineal foot) that the beam will carry. [list] [*]Interior wall, not carrying the roof load. [*]One floor above this floor [*]Due to orientation of floor above, only the left area of the floor will be supported by the beam (see sketch no. 2) [*]Proper blocking will be done in the cellar below [/list] Area of floor above the beam: 14' x 11' = 154 sqft. Using standard load estimates from LVL span tables: 40 psf live, 15 psf dead = 55 lb/sqft. Total weight of supported floor: 55 x 154 = 8470 lbs. [b]Assuming beam is carrying 50% of this load[/b] (and the exterior wall carrying the other 50%); 8470/2 = 4235 lbs. Beam is (nearly) 11ft long. 4235/11 = 385 plf (pounds per lineal foot). Using the Uniform floor load (PLF) tables from LP corp, I see that a single LVL of 1 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. x 11ft LVL beam can support 353 PLF. So a double-ply LVL 3 1/2" x 9 1/2" x 11 ft beam can support 353 x 2 = 706 PLF. (Almost 2x what I need) Am I on the right track? Agree with my assumption (in bold above)? Thanks! LVL 2900Fb-2.0E Uniform Floor Load (PLF) Tables [url]https://lpcorp.com/resources/product-literature/technical-guides/lp-solidstart-lvl-beam-and-header-technical-guide-english/[/url]