Framing A Pocket Door In A Load Bearing Wall

Installing a pocket door in a load bearing wall requires replacing the old header with a longer one.

Framing a pocket door in a load bearing wall.

Glue and screw together the 2 by 4s to build a pony wall a smaller non load bearing wall for hanging the track for the pocket doors. Consulting a structural engineer or building professional is advised when attempting a project where inexperience has the potential to cause property damage bodily harm or death but utilizing the recommendations of a building professional and properly. Part 01 the library renovation pocket door in a load bearing wall follow along and watch me work on my most recent renovation project the library. So if you re on the top floor you can use 2 2x4 s unless the building is 36 wide in which case you ll need 2 2x6 s.

You ll also need to know whether or not the wall is load bearing. Generally load bearing walls will be in a central location and they will be perpendicular to the floor joists. Attach to the ceiling by screwing through the frame into the ceiling joists. For header spans see tables r502 5 1 and r502 5 2.

Obviously this one doesn t need a fancy header. Chapter 6 wall construction section r602 wood wall framing. Framing an opening in a load bearing wall is time consuming and tedious but with proper preparation the framing job can be accomplished. To install a pocket door you must modify the framing of the wall which is safe to do if the wall isn t bearing any load.

You can determine this by the wall s placement in the house. The project includes assessing and taking out a section of a load bearing wall a pocket door building framing a wall installing double french doors and semi custom built ins. And our contractor told us that that s a bearing wall and we can t do that. If the wall is load bearing consult a structural.

Just one to support the door hardware. I built a 2x4 framed wall parallel to the load bearing wall. Well look even if it s a bearing wall you can frame for it but here s what you have to do if your door is 2 feet wide the finished width is say 24 inches the size of the opening that you need for this is double that. Doors in these walls will have headers usually laminated beams over their openings.

The wall needs to be wide enough to accommodate twice the door s width plus 1 inch 2 54cm.