I'm in the process of updating my bedroom, right now targeting the closet. The closet doors are the bifold sliding kind, which considering the space makes the most sense. The current doors, however, are the awful, loud, aluminum kind from the 1970's and need to go.
The current doors are also floor-to-ceiling, meaning there's no header over the closet. The ceilings are 90" high, but the standard closet doors currently sold are 80" tall. I would prefer to go with standard doors than purchase custom doors to fit the floor-to-ceiling gap. So basically I need to build a 10" header over the door.
To give some other dimensions ... the room width is 136", with the closet opening being 96" and then a there are two 20" wide walls on each side of the closet opening.
My initial thought was to just build a basic frame ... use 2x4s, have a 96" top plate and bottom plate, with studs every 16" that are 6.25" tall (10" minus the two 2x4s and the 0.75" pine trim board). Then take that frame and nail (or screw) it to the ceiling and along the inside walls. Then add drywall, add molding, and paint. So I know roughly how to do this, but this will be my first undertaking of anything like framing a wall. So I have a couple of questions:
1) Biggest one - will the ceiling and current closet walls be able to support the weight of this? I'm concerned that with the 2x4s and drywall, this structure will be very heavy and could potentially fall if not attached right. If it won't support the weight, how do I correct this, preferably without tearing down the current walls.
2) What nails or screws should I use? I was planning on 16D nails to build the frame, but what nails/screws for attaching the frame to the ceiling and walls?
3) Should I remove the corner bead currently on the walls? Will the drywall I add to the header look flush along the current drywall for the walls if I dont?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
The current doors are also floor-to-ceiling, meaning there's no header over the closet. The ceilings are 90" high, but the standard closet doors currently sold are 80" tall. I would prefer to go with standard doors than purchase custom doors to fit the floor-to-ceiling gap. So basically I need to build a 10" header over the door.
To give some other dimensions ... the room width is 136", with the closet opening being 96" and then a there are two 20" wide walls on each side of the closet opening.
My initial thought was to just build a basic frame ... use 2x4s, have a 96" top plate and bottom plate, with studs every 16" that are 6.25" tall (10" minus the two 2x4s and the 0.75" pine trim board). Then take that frame and nail (or screw) it to the ceiling and along the inside walls. Then add drywall, add molding, and paint. So I know roughly how to do this, but this will be my first undertaking of anything like framing a wall. So I have a couple of questions:
1) Biggest one - will the ceiling and current closet walls be able to support the weight of this? I'm concerned that with the 2x4s and drywall, this structure will be very heavy and could potentially fall if not attached right. If it won't support the weight, how do I correct this, preferably without tearing down the current walls.
2) What nails or screws should I use? I was planning on 16D nails to build the frame, but what nails/screws for attaching the frame to the ceiling and walls?
3) Should I remove the corner bead currently on the walls? Will the drywall I add to the header look flush along the current drywall for the walls if I dont?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.