Hey all,
I have a finished basment room with no windows. The slab walls (behind the drywall and interior wall frame) are about neck height. The ceiling joists are about 9 feet.
Since the finished basement walls are just frames to hold the drywall, I'm not worried about cutting through them. What lies behind them is just the 5 foot slab wall, and about 4 feet of framing for the exterior wall (and insulatilon).
I want two windows up in that area (they'll be about 10 feet apart). I'm guessing the windows would be about 14-18 inches high by about 30 inches wide (the goal being big enough for a person to escape).
This is on the back of my house. The room just above it (living room) has two windows. These windows would be a few feet beneath them for asthetics from the outside.
So - I know I'll need a header because I'll be cutting out one or more studs.
1. Do standard rules apply for headers here (based on width of gap)? Or since the entire weight of the rear of the home (about 2.5 stories worth of house) is above them - do I need something extra?
2. When I've cut into other load bearing walls before, I've always braced as I go until I can get the header in. Do I need to do that here? Or can I just use a sawsall from the outside, cut my window hole, work in the header, etc. without bracing?
We have hardiplank siding on the outside, so I'm somehow going to have to work from the inside to slip a header up behind the hardiplank so I don't have to pull that whole area off. That could be hard if there is some kind of temporary brace in there.
Thanks!
I have a finished basment room with no windows. The slab walls (behind the drywall and interior wall frame) are about neck height. The ceiling joists are about 9 feet.
Since the finished basement walls are just frames to hold the drywall, I'm not worried about cutting through them. What lies behind them is just the 5 foot slab wall, and about 4 feet of framing for the exterior wall (and insulatilon).
I want two windows up in that area (they'll be about 10 feet apart). I'm guessing the windows would be about 14-18 inches high by about 30 inches wide (the goal being big enough for a person to escape).
This is on the back of my house. The room just above it (living room) has two windows. These windows would be a few feet beneath them for asthetics from the outside.
So - I know I'll need a header because I'll be cutting out one or more studs.
1. Do standard rules apply for headers here (based on width of gap)? Or since the entire weight of the rear of the home (about 2.5 stories worth of house) is above them - do I need something extra?
2. When I've cut into other load bearing walls before, I've always braced as I go until I can get the header in. Do I need to do that here? Or can I just use a sawsall from the outside, cut my window hole, work in the header, etc. without bracing?
We have hardiplank siding on the outside, so I'm somehow going to have to work from the inside to slip a header up behind the hardiplank so I don't have to pull that whole area off. That could be hard if there is some kind of temporary brace in there.
Thanks!