[Pauertule]

Hi All,

Long time reader and viewer - learned a lot here and I'm appreciative of this great forum. I finally hit a snag that I couldn't find a generic answer to, so I figured I'd take the opportunity to finally join up and post something.

We have this weird closet - its a wide, shallow closet that doubled in width due to a bathroom remodeling and addition many years ago, before we owned the house. Instead of putting one big sliding door, they just added a second door to access the additional space in the newly doubled closet. My wife (isn't this how all projects start) doesn't like the two doors, and wants me to make it one big door. I checked out everything I could, but finally just tore off the wall and doors... I still can't tell if its load bearing. There are headers above each door, but not a whole lot on top of them. Plus, there's a 1/8" gap between each header and the studs that would allegedly be supporting them. Here's a bunch of pics...

Do I need to replace this header with one big one and reinforce the supports on each side? Would it be enough to just bridge the two headers with similar wood? Just wanted to get others' thoughts.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZM3LFkzcNmbtQ

 

[joecaption]

Where do you plan on finding a door that wide.
What's the total width?
I'd be looking at one long header, a center 6" or so center wall and two bifold doors.

 

[Pauertule]

Where do you plan on finding a door that wide.
What's the total width?
I'd be looking at one long header, a center 6" or so center wall and two bifold doors.

The total width of the opening would be 70" but I'd probably double or triple the studs on each end to support the larger, single header. The 2 studs near the center were the ends of what was a small center wall... but it was about 18". I do think we'd be doing bi-fold doors, but was hoping to get away with not having a center wall... Think I could pull that off? Maybe two 32" bifolds would cover it?

 

[mae-ling]

Figure out if it is load bearing, or just assume it is.

Build your opening for double doors, bifold or sliding.

 

[BNTHERE]

I agree.
If you cant figure out it is load bearing, always assume it is.

As for the size of the sliding door, 72" is a available.