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Heavy-Duty:
Installing A New
Sliding Door -
Framing The Rough Opening
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| In
This Article:
The new rough opening is laid
out, temporary bracing is installed, the studs are cut, the
old window removed, then the siding is cut away. A new header
and trimmer studs are installed. |
Related
Articles:
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| Skill Level:
4 (Advanced) |
Time Taken:
6 Hours |
By
Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
My first step in this job was to read the instructions for
the sliding door and then locate the materials needed for the header
and the new studs. The instructions required a rough opening of
exactly 72" wide by 80" high, which left about 1/4"
on the top and sides for adjustment.
That meant the header had to be 75" long (72" span plus
1.5" for each trimmer stud.)
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I cut two 2 x 12's to 75", and a piece of 7/16"
thick Oriented Strand Board (OSB) for a spacer, to make a beam
that would be very close to 3.5" thick.
I used a framing nailer to assemble the header. Hand-driven
nails would work just fine, too. |
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The finished header, ready for installation.
The location of the new sliding door. |
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Much of the thinking in this project involved laying out
the cuts in the existing framing. The red marks indicate where
the bottom and top edges of the header will meet the
double-stud that will remain.
The other double-stud (actually a trimmer stud and a king
stud) will have to be installed using new lumber. I laid out
the locations and marked them clearly. |
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The wall had blocking between every stud, so one piece had
to be cut to accept the new trimmer/king stud
The middle studs had to be cut where the top of the header
would intersect them. I used a 4' level to lay out the cut
lines. |
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NOW PAY ATTENTION
HERE!
This is a load bearing wall that I'm cutting into, and it needs
to be supported until the header is installed.
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Supporting a load bearing wall during construction is not
difficult. A temporary stud is placed near each stud that gets
cut.
The lower end must bear on something to spread the
load to several floor joists. In this case a scrap of
2x6 was used. I used 2x6 boards for these temporary supports
because that's all I had available. Normally, 2x4's would
work, unless the roof was especially heavy. |
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In this project, there was no finished ceiling, so I placed
the temporary stud under the tail of the rafter.
The other end was wedged into the board on the floor. These
boards were not nailed (though nails couldn't hurt), they were
only held in place by the friction of being wedged tightly.
I used a 4 pound sledge to force the stud tight. |
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Notes: This building had no finished ceiling. If there was
a ceiling, I would have nailed two of the temporary studs to a
temporary top plate that pressed on the ceiling and held the
roof in place. This assembly would have to be placed as close as
possible to the wall being cut, one to two feet away may be
adequate.
If the roof load was not adequately supported, the reciprocating
saw blade will likely get pinched frequently while making
cuts in supporting studs.
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With the wall supported by three posts, I made the cuts in
the old studs with the circular saw. Of course, it doesn't cut
all the way through, but I'll finish it with the reciprocating
saw.
The king stud (10' long) and trimmer (80" long, the
rough opening height) were laid out and nailed together. |
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Note: Normally the bottom plate would be cut out after the
opening is framed. But this building is unusual in that the bottom
plate rests directly in the floor joists. Normally the
plywood subfloor is installed and then the walls are raised, meaning
that normally there is plywood under the bottom plate. In this
case I left the bottom plate intact, which will create a slightly
higher door sill than optimal, but the alternative is messing around
with filler planks under the door and maybe having a structure that
is not sturdy enough.
Normally the trimmer stud would be cut to 1.5" shorter than
the rough opening height.
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The blocking was cut to accept the double-stud.
The new double stud was installed and toe-nailed to the
bottom plate. |
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The new stud was toe-nailed to the blocking and at the top.
Next the old studs were cut the rest of the way, using a
reciprocating saw. |
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This window had to be removed next. I cut whatever nails
were visible inside.
The rest of the removal had to be done from the outside. |
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The wide casing is an integral part of this 1950's Andersen
window.
Prying between the siding and the casing caused the unit to
work free. |
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Even though this Andersen casement window was about
half-a-century old, it was still in remarkably good condition, good
enough to re-use.
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With the window removed the next task was to remove the
framing boards around the window.
A reciprocating saw is essential to this step. A long
fine-tooth blade gets in between studs to cut the nails. |
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Some of the cuts are easy.
The old window opening was not even framed properly. They
used a double 2x4 header and no trimmer studs. |
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The hard part was cutting the nails that held the sheathing
to the studs. It meant getting in behind the stud, and that
required a long blade, about 8".
When all the old studs were cut out I checked to make sure
there were no nails that would get pinched behind the new
header. |
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Another view of the wall after removal of
the studs. |
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The header installed easily, by myself, with no helpers.
I was lucky that it fit right the first time (or is that skill?)
I installed a second door a few days later and the header was
not nearly so cooperative.
The temporary supports were removed (after the header was
nailed securely). |
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Once installed, I nailed the header all over the place; at
least eight 3" nails at each end, plus toe-nails into the
trimmer studs and king studs.
The cripple studs (the old full ones that got cut short)
were toe-nailed into the header. |
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The reciprocating saw was used to cut through the sheathing
and siding.
The last part of the opening that I cut was the very center
of the top. This meant that the whole wall panel fell away
cleanly without peeling away.
A much nicer view! |
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At this point the rough opening is framed but there is
still more work to prepare for the slider door.
The siding has to be cut back from the opening to accept
the nailing flange of the door frame. |
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Some replacement doors or windows would not require this step
because they do not use a nailing flange to attach to the
wall. Such units are screwed into the side of the opening. The unit
about to be installed here was intended for new construction,
and most new construction windows and patio doors have a nailing
flange.
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I made a line about 3-1/4" back from the edge,
intending to fit a 1x4 board around the door frame.
Note the cross-section of this wall: studs, sheathing and
cedar clap-board siding. |
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I screwed a 1x4 to the wall as a saw guide.
Without this board for the saw to ride on, the blade would
cut into the sheathing as the siding zig-zagged up and down.
The blade depth was set to just barely cut into the sheathing. |
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The wall after the cut was made.
The 1x4 was taken off and the short pieces of siding were
removed. The siding pieces directly above and below the
opening were also removed. |
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At this point the rough opening is complete. The methods here
would work almost step-by-step for the installation of a
conventional entry door in an existing wall. Installing a
window is quite similar except for the framing of the sill beneath
the opening.
But What About Vinyl Siding?
This project was made easy because the wood siding is easy to
cut, and easy to patch. Doing the same project with a vinyl-sided
wall is a little more difficult, but not beyond the means of the
moderately experienced handyman. The problem lies in installing the J-channel.
Normally J-channel is nailed on before the siding is
installed. Adding J-channel later is tricky because it can't be
nailed normally. What I've done is glue the J-channel to the wall
with construction adhesive or (better) siliconized acrylic latex
caulk. Then I fill in the gap between the J-channel and the window
with a 1x4 board and caulk the gaps.
WARNING: If you are going to
undertake a project this big, make sure you completely understand
all the steps involved. Consult your local building department and
check if permits are required. We encourage our readers to look at
other competent sources for second opinions, because the work shown
here may not be applicable to your home.
See
The Sliding Door Installed
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Tools
Used:
- Circular Saw
- Reciprocating Saw
- 4' Level
- Hammer
- Chalk Line, Square
- Cordless Drill/Driver
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Materials Used:
- Lumber, 2x12x8'
- 2x4x10'
- 16d Nails
- 12d Nails
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