How To Build A Sliding Door Header

Wide a common patio door width.

How to build a sliding door header.

The header is usually made out of dimensional lumber installed on its edge. If you are building a new bearing wall or cutting in a new doorway be sure to check your local building code span charts or consult an engineer to properly size the header. When in doubt build a double 2 12 header sandwich like we explain next. The size of the door headers you want to make will determine the size and type of materials you will need.

You need to keep in mind that structural support is very important and the framed wall you are working with needs to be durable. For finish flooring 3 8 in. I have 3 sliding doors that need to go into concrete block openings. Wide window and door openings and in most situations be code compliant for openings up to 6 ft.

The opening are higher than the doors. For wiggle room at the top of the door and the top of the trimmer the bottom of the header needs to be 82 5 8 in. In all but the most bizarre situations they ll easily carry the weight for 4 ft. The main structure of the door is a piece of plywood to achieve the thickness needed for the hangers we bought 1x3 lumber to make a frame.

So your jack stud should be cut at 81 for a 6 8 tall door. This with all the photos has helped me to understand. For the jamb 3 4 in. Calculating header size is no picnic as you learn how to.

I need to build headers for the doors. To make the door header the top of the door frame cut two 2x4s to the same length as the width of the original opening and nail them securely together. Doors in a load bearing wall that holds the weight of the house created by beams and trusses need a larger header than those in non load bearing walls. We read the instructions and sketched a simple plan of what we wanted the door to look like.

The following will give you the general idea. Most new doors are 6 ft. This is the actual thickness of a 2x4. Your header size is determined by the load it carries.

Cut the door header. We started by picking everbilt sliding door hardware available at home depot. For underlayment and 3 4 in.