Adding a door

[Ed Camacho]

I recently bought a house and have planned a few repairs. One of them involves adding french doors into a pre-existing doorway between the living room and family room. The doorway is very wide, so I'll need to basically "shrink" it to fit any pre-hung doors I buy. My question is, will I need to rebuild the header if it is just a single 2x4 along the top of the doorway, or can I just remove the drywall, add the appropriate number of studs to shrink the doorway to fit, and hang the door? Do I need multiple 2x4's as a header or will one suffice? I'm just trying to plan ahead.

Thanks in advance.

eccamacho AT yahoo DOT com

[Brad Bruce]

[e-mail] (Ed Camacho) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If it's working with the larger span, it should be just fine with the shorter span you're proposing. It sounds like you're working on a non load-bearing wall. The 2x4 is there to frame the door, not distribute the load.

NJBrad

[Tom Baker]

If the existing opening is square and doesnt sag, an additional header is not needed for structure. Make sure studs are doubled at jambs and solidly connected to floor and header.

TB

[EvoDawg]

You can also special order a door to fit that opening. If the header is supported with a jack stud on either end, just frame it for the new door opening. Have fun with the drywall!!!

Rich