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Framing for new Exterior Door with Transom

4584 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  123pugsy
Hi all,

I am working through construction documents for a new wood frame town home and am currently working on exterior details.
I have an 8'-0" X 3'-6" custom door with a 1'-6" high fixed transom window above the door: this is a non-load bearing wall, and I would like to make the header as minimal as possible. Given this is a non-loading bearing wall (entry door) couldn't I flat stack two 2x4s for the header?
I dont have the room for two 2x6s.
What are your thoughts?

Thanks
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Actually the door and transom window is under a covered entry (second floor) so I have 14" deep IJ over the door and window. The window will butt up directly under the IJ and soffit, and then the door under the 1'-6" window. Im trying to place two 2x4s flat, between the door and window.
between the door and window you can do 2-2x4 flat though i will tell you that it is much better to have at least 4 1/2" or 3-2x4 flat. you still need a bearing header above the exterior door its considered a bulkhead opening even if its non-bearing. If their is not enough room for the header your engineer and/or architect will need to redo you plans and put in a flush beam in the floor/ceilling.

so by my calculation you have 98 1/2" for the door then another 4 1/2" between the door and transom then 18" for transom this adds up to 121" or 10' 1" so 10' ceilings frame to 10'-11/8" how tall are your wall/ceiling height? for this to be doable you need at least 11' ceilings or a flush beam.
1 - 1 of 7 Posts
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