We've been wanting to put a slider/patio door in the west wall of the living room for a while (and I've hated this wall since moving in) and so began the wall demo today. This place never ceases to amaze me. The wall has obviously been reworked sometime after the original build, as the majority of the studs are full 2X4 with slight variations to those dimensions. Rough cut, to say the least. The window framing is newer. We'll be taking out a couple of 2Xhungs, but I'll have to raise the header. It's 2" too short to get a standard door in. Probably change that to a 2X10 in place of the 2X8. Found what looks to be a quite interestingly made opening for a door. The window header has no cripplers above the jack studs. Wall's been there for a while, so I guess it's ok, but when it gets redone, it'll be a bit different. This is an eave wall, so I suppose I should brace things before I tear into it too much, eh? Coupla pics to pique interest perhaps...............
Lots more will be happenin' before too long. Now, where's my tannerite? Trying to find a 7' wide door. Special order may be in order.
What, no outside wall pic?! If yer gonna photo-document this project, we need every angle Take one yet?
Interesting it is. What, no patience? Outside is aluminum siding, which is getting pulled and replaced with PVC siding that should look similar to cedar shakes. I think the slider will just be a 6 footer, unless I change my mind again.
I had a "patio door" at my old house, kinda looked like a slider but one window door stationary and the other side opened, they were 36" each, so maybe a 72" ?
Yep, I can make this a 6' (72") or whatever up to almost 12' (if I wanted to completely rebuild the wall). One of the original ideas was to make it a double door with one that opened and one stationary, but we thought that would intrude into the room too much when opened.
Those windows soak up the sun and cause the living room to turn into an oven in the afternoon . The new doorwall will keep a lot of the UV and heat out in the summer and heat in, in the winter. Even more light (w/o the heat) will be nice. We're thinking of either putting up an attached screen porch, or a freestanding version.
Generally a 2x12 header up tight against the top plate is the correct height, sometimes a 2x4 added to the bottom flat works, all is dependent on ceiling height. Eliminates 2 inch cripples, general rule of thumb is 1 inch of header for each foot of span. I am anal about framing, that whole wall would be gone if I opened it up and saw that. Think ahead, if you replace the wall completely the door will fit better, drywall will lay better, siding will lay flatter, trim, paint ......... Yup replace the whole wall, not much more money, probably no more work by the time you patch things together, better end result.
There's a 2X8 up there right now, but I could fit a 2X10 w/o issue and still have small cripplers to run wiring to the other side of door. 2X8 would suffice though for a 6' door? You should have seen all the shims in this wall. The studs aren't on the same plane due to some being rough sawn and others being newer. When the door gets here, I may just follow your suggestion (which I'd already considered), and rebuild the whole shebang. The "jack" studs for the old opening are 4 pieces of old 2X4 nailed to the kings. Things sure aren't built like they used to be, and with this house as an example, that's a gooder thing. Yep, a few extra 2Xs and I'm all set. The siding is being redone, as is the interior finish (obviously), so it's actually a no-brainer. One question though...what's you're preferred method to shore up the rafters sitting on that wall while I'm reframing?
Um, yeah, I know that. Ceiling tiles will compress under the pressure, so I'll need to get creative, methinks. No, I'm not redoing the ceiling.
At this particular point in time, I'm beginning to regret opening up this wall. Same thing happens every time I open up a wall here. Wall openers remorse.
