Every door opening that is constructed corectly will have proper construction of that opening for the door to function proper. The construction of a door opening begin with the installation of a header above the opening within the wall. The header must be able to support the weight of the walls that is constructed above the opening.
The header that is undersized for the weight of the wall will not be able to support the wall corectly, and this can result in either the door becoming stuck or the drywall beginning to crack. Because the header must be able to support the weight of the wall, many builder and remodelers use a header size chart to determine the size of the header that will be required prior to cutting studs for the door opening. In order to properly use a header size chart, a person must understand the difference between a load-bearing wall and a non-load-bearing wall.
How to Pick the Right Header for a Door Opening
Non-load bearing walls only needs to support the weight of the wall itself. A header size of a flat 2×4 or two doubled 2x4s will work for these walls. However, load-bearing walls must be able to support the weight of the roof or the floors above the wall.
For these types of walls, a header size chart will indicate the use of a beam for the header. The size of the lumber for these types of headers will be much more large than for non-load bearing walls. The width of the door opening will determine the size of the header for load-bearing and non-load bearing walls.
Header size charts will indicate the actual dimensions of the lumber that is to be used for the header. For example, a 2×6 is actualy 1.5 inches in thickness and 5.5 inches in height. These actual dimensions will determine the size of the header that will be used for the door opening based on the width of the opening.
Using the correct size header will ensure that the header is flush with the wall. A header that is flush with the wall will make it easier to hang the drywall on the door. In order to ensure that the door will properly fit into the opening in the wall, the rough opening must be calculated.
The width of the door opening will receive two inches of added width to the door’s width. The height of the door will receive two and a half inches of added height. This opening will provide for the door jamb and the adjustments that will be made to the door frame when hanging the door.
Header size charts will use these rough opening dimensions to determine the width of the header. If the width of the door is used instead of the rough opening width, the header will be too narrow for the door opening. In order for the header to be properly constructed, it will be necessary to install jack stud and king studs.
Jack studs will be installed under the header to allow the header to distribute its weight to the studs. The king studs will be installed in a way that ensures that the header is distributed to the studs. Header size charts will indicate the number of jack studs that are needed for specific widths of door opening.
For instance, a very wide door opening may require two jack studs on each side of the opening. This is something that may be missed when focusing solely on the lumber size of the header. In addition to the installation of jack studs and king studs, cripple studs will be used to fill the space between the header and the top plate of the wall.
In non-load bearing walls, these studs will help to ensure that the plane of the wall remains consistent so drywall can be installed on the wall. However, in load bearing walls, the header will be the main structural component of the wall opening. In order to install the header properly, a person should follow a specific sequence of installing the studs into the wall.
Skipping a step in the construction of the studs can lead to the creation of a wavy drywall wall or a door that opens on it’s own. In many cases, people make the mistake of not considering the differences between the doors and door openings in a structure. Not all openings require the same header as the others.
For example, a closet door will only require a flat 2×4. However, a six-foot door opening under a bathroom on the second floor of a structure will require doubled 2x10s. Header size charts can help people to determine these difference. Using the header size chart prior to hanging drywall will help people to make the decision of whether or not an engineer is needed for the construction of that header prior to demolition begins.
The decision of what size header is needed for the doorway is important prior to installing the drywall because correcting the header afterwards will be more expensive than creating the proper header for the doorway the first time. Finally, the header must be level and square to the opening of the doorway. An unlevel header will cause the door to not function proper as the entire door frame will be out of alignment.
Shims can be used to even out the header, but will not solve the issue of the door frame being out of level with the header. A four-foot level can be used to ensure the header is even prior to driving nails into the header. Ensuring the header is level with the doorway will ensure the door will swing shut without rub against the frame.
