Cutting A Door Opening In An Exterior Wall

Cutting through a block wall but not the concrete footer would.

Cutting a door opening in an exterior wall.

Get fair costs for your specific project requirements. See typical tasks and time to frame a door opening along with per unit costs and material requirements. Wall studs are typically spaced 16 or 24 inches from center to center. Whether adding a new entrance to your home access to an exterior deck or improving egress the new door requires an opening in the home s exterior wall.

A 2x6 header is strong enough for a 3 foot wide door opening. This methodical approach to cutting the opening minimizes demolition and prepares the opening for the necessary wall framing for the new door unit. When you re sure that it is safe to cut make a plunge cut through the wall with the reciprocating saw image 1 and a standard bi metal blade. A bottom plate runs along the base and a top plate is located at the top.

If you are cutting a larger opening as for a patio door install temporary supports and use larger lumber. On this project the exterior wall is wood. Normally done with welded or bolted structural steel outer frame for the door to reinforce the opening you are making then normal door put inside that outer frame and commonly adding reinforcing and or grout filling of the block voids on the blocks surrounding the door opening. Make a cut from top to bottom along the studs in each stud cavity.

On a simple passage door in a non loadbearing wall a header made from a pair of 2 x 4s installed on edge is usually sufficient while a typical double patio door in a non load bearing wall might require a 4 x 6 header or a 4 x 8 header. A typical door opening is 2 inches 5 1 cm wider than the door size being installed to allow for the thickness of the jamb material and shims to plumb the jamb. Make the opening the width of the door plus 2 inches 5 1 cm and if additional studs are needed a. Measure your door carefully and cut the opening to fit using a reciprocating saw.

The cost to frame a door opening starts at 144 217 per opening but can vary significantly with site conditions and options. This illustration shows how an interior wall is framed. This is a time lapse video of how i knocked through a solid wall to create a new door opening. Where there is a door or window the wall studs are removed and the opening is bridged by a header that is supported by extra studs at each end.

You might choose to use an existing wall stud as a king stud in which case you can cut the opening 1 1 2 inches inside that stud and slip a jack stud into the wall. The size of the header depends on the weight it has to support as well as the horizontal span of the opening.