What is involved in putting in a wider door?

Absolutely. Any shop that makes doors and windows can that. You will pay extra but hey if it saves yo loads of work go for it.

You need the double studs and headers to comply with the building codes. Yes, it can be done depending on your skill level and pain tolerance.

I'd put the new studs in before cutting anything out wherever possible.

Yes. You're terminating a wall in two new places, and need to stiffen them. Swinging the door puts constant movement on the hinge side studs, and someone kicking the door in might break either side stud if not tied to a jack.

Does that leave enough room to shim the jambs plumb?

from buffalo ny: if this is from an attached garage into the home, this may be your chance to improve the door safety with a fire rated door.

buffalobill, take a look at the walls on either side of the door. If this in an attached garage, I'd agree that this is a good time to put in a fire rated door, but that would have to be just the first step in improving the safety of this situation.

A fire door would be overkill unless there are plans to bring the rest of the wall up to code.

somebody wasn't paying attention to code when they built it.

buffalobill wrote:

I suppose I should have been more explicit. It is an interior door in the basement. (I did mention that it didn't need to be more than 35" because that is all the exterior door was, so it was implied to be an interior door.