How to Build Door and Window Headers

Building Window Headers and Door Headers

So you want to add a door, doorway or window to your home and you are not sure of just how it will affect the structure of the house. This is a common concern for DIY homeowners. The first step is to determine if the new door, doorway or window is going to be added to a structural wall, also called a load bearing wall. So what is a load bearing wall.

A load bearing wall is any wall that supports a major section of the building above it. If the wall is not in a load bearing wall you don’t have to be concerned with the walls structural elements. If the location is in a load bearing wall you must install a support element called a header to carry the weight of the building over the door, doorway or window. These structural elements are called headers.

Normally walls are framed using either 2 x 4s or 2 x 6s that are spaced 16 inches on center. This means that the walls vertical structural elements are sixteen inches apart, which is the distance to accommodate the installation of wall sheathing and sheet rock.

How to build door and window headers:

Once the wall framing is laid out the location of doors and windows is determined. A rough opening is framed similar to the attached illustration. It consists of a header and the jack 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 to hold it in its vertical position.

The header is made from 2 x 6s, 2 x 8s or 2 x 10s depending on how large the rough opening needs to be. The header carries the building overhead weight over the door or window opening and distributes it on the header jacks and adjacent wall members.

If you are going to add a door, doorway or window to an existing building and the wall is a load bearing wall, a header and header jacks must be added to the wall to distribute the weight of the structure above it over the new opening.

This is not a big task for most DIY homeowners. As a matter of fact it is quite easy. All it takes is to remove the wall material from one side of the wall where you plan to install the new opening. Once that is done, use temporary bracing underneath the ceiling joist close to the wall to temporarily carry the load while you remove the existing 2 x 4s or 2 x 6s to facilitate installing the header and header jacks. Insure that the header and jacks are constructed to the correct rough opening.

Note that a piece of ½ inch material (plywood) will need to be sandwiched between the 2 x X header element to make the header come out flush with the wall studs.

That is how to build door and window headers to add a door, doorway or window to an existing load carry wall.              

Related articles:

Framing Walls | Wall Framing Layout

How to Frame Window and Door Openings

How to Make Door Rough Openings

For more DIY information Check out these Resources