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Putting in header in wall!

15K views 144 replies 11 participants last post by  notmrjohn 
#1 ·
Hi everyone
been reading throughout here and see that a lot of people have the same project, but everyone's case is unique so here is mine. Appreciate any insight/suggestions you all have.

so basically we want to put in a 4ft opening in a wall upstairs, 2nd floor. the wall seperates 2 bedrooms. the unique thing is that the 2nd floor is actually the attic itself, and so the roof is essentially tied into the wall, so to speak.

so our idea is to cut out 2 rafters, and install about a 40 inch opening with 2x10 headers. whats the best way to do this?

for your convenience i have a video to make it easier to see.

thanks!
 
#5 ·
I watched the video, I still don't know where "opening" is to be. Or what you mean by " 4ft opening." A door way? What size are studs in wall you are cutting into? How tall is wall? Or is opening going to be in roof? I don't understand need to "cut out 2 rafters." But, then, i don't understand lots of stuff.
 
#6 ·
thanks for taking a look. so the video shows the wall with drywall off. we want to put the opening in that wall about 40inches wide, much like a door way, but minus a actual door. the studs are normal 2x4 16 on center. so the plan is to cut out about 2to3 studs out, put in header above that but below the top plate where the roof meets the ceiling. hope this helps
 
#7 ·
Oh Ok. So you're not cutting any rafters. Pretty straight forward job. Is there a double top plat on top the studs? The rafters look almost over studs. What is directly below where opening will be? Weight of roof and rafter thrust is going to be transferred to there. Be nice if that wall is directly over another wall, or a couple of perpindicular walls. If opening in wall underneath, you'll have to beef that up.

I would build paralell temporary "wall frame" one rafter longer each end than opening to support rafters while you take out studs. Maybe two, one on each side of wall. Your going to use two 2X10s sistered with 1/2' ply between as solid header, no cripples above? Is there room for 2X12? Stronger , and brings top of opening, in 8' wall, down closer to standard door height.

Cut the studs you're removing close to one end, they may be reusable as jack studs. Frame as any opening, king studs between top and bottom plates each end of header. header in between under top plates. I'd use two jack studs on each side between header and bottom plate since opening is 4' wide. Cut out bottom plate between jacks. Metal rafter ties over opening. Remove temp frames. Voila! French for "the house is falling, 'cause there's no first floor support."
 
#13 ·
Those rafters just hang below that triple top plate on the wall?
What supports them? Those studs really don't look like they do. But looking at the video it looks like nothing else does!

Looks like header would have to go on the room side of the wall and be supported down to the bottom plate. Kinda have pillars inside the room, use 2x8 or 2x10 studs (whatever width you need) flush on the one side and under the header on the other side.
 
#14 · (Edited)
thanks for coming back to look.
yea thats the question: the 2 rafters run down to the studs, and thats it! it's not even sitting on the studs, just sistered to the stud with screws.

can you explain what you mean by supported down to bottom plate? oh nevermind i get it. why flush on one side and under header on the other side?
 
#15 ·
Whoa! That is nothing at all like i expected. :eek: What is holding up roof?

From the other side in video it sure looked like they were on the top cap of wall.

Did somebody cut them off to put in that wall? Is the knotty pine room an addition?

Was there an opening there B4? 1st pic looks like double studs on each side.

In a normal situation I might would be happy about cutting out two rafters and framing it like it was a hatch opening. But this is not normal. Which means i should feel right at home, but this is worrisome.
 
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#16 ·
thanks so much for coming back. i read your earlier post as well.
yea so there was an addition to the house. the 2nd floor is the attic itself, remember, so the roof ties right into the room. i believe the knotty pine is addition, yes. the opening was not there before-i just did it today to show you guys clearly where opening would be. there is double studs on each side of the opening. that's also kind of why we only want to open it up that much so we dont disturb the rest of teh wall
 
#25 ·
I like mae's idea of thickening the whole wall. it will suppost the rafter ends and be... I dunno...classier looking thru opening to be thicker. The column or pilaster look on rafter side would look classy. But pilaster every 16 inches would be too much. How far from floor are the bottoms of rafters in the "rafter room"? If high enuff maybe a horisontal beam to support them. Mite work anyway if you are going to put sloped ceiling on rafters.

Ahhh, worry about aestetics later, I'm still scared house will fall. Hasn't so far.
 
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#31 ·
yea thats what we were worried about; the fact the roof hasnt fallen yet! we were shocked to see them all tied into teh studs like that. what we want to do is put new studs under each rafter so the rafter is sitting on top of each one, not screwed in as a sister.

back to the opening-if we dont touch rafter the height to teh floor is only about maybe 4.5 ft.
 
#26 ·
Also make sure your studs under the header are supported down to the footings/basement whatever.
I am guessing this wall is located somewhere near the right side of the chimney in the pic?
What is below this wall on the first floor? May need additional support here as well as below it.
 
#34 ·
Man I agree with NOTMRJohn How has it stood up.
I'd be scared to put that opening in.

Gonna need beams in the floor below under the studs under the header. Or maybe not if the new roof above the old roof carries all the weight and the old roof is there now just for drywall, then MAY and it is a big MAY not need header at all.

Need to get structural engineer on site to look at it.
 
#33 ·
Curiouser and curiouser. The more pics I see the weirder it gets. Do you have a pic of where new addition rafters tie into old? Looks like foam may cover that.

Lemmee see can I explain the look of opening and ceiling& walls from rafter room as I understand it. Standing almost in opening,the walls on each side go up to ceiling which slants up along rafters. In the opening you will have 6, 8, mebbee 10" thick walls. Two ways for ceiling over opening. it comes straight and flat as wide as opening till it meets slope, there are vertical walls on each side coming down to slope. A tunnel up high. The corners where tunnel walls meet slope could be head bangers, depending on how low rafters are on wall. The opening ceiling could slope up from openining, maybe even widening farther from opening. Raising and softening the corners where existing slope ceiling meets tunnel walls and softening narrow tunnel effect. And "tunnel' is close to 4' wide already.
 
#37 ·
"haha lets focus on problem solving first :laughing: i mean we are only doing an opening not taking teh wall down"

No you are just cutting a four foot section out of load bearing wall , doing a poor job of bearing the load, with no support under it. Its the same as taking the whole wall down.

If I was hired to do this I wouldn't even open the tool box, unless there was a permit, and a certified architect or structural engineers report.

I might, I say might, put in jack studs under the rafter ends without permit.
 
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