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Frame a door rough opening A pro teaches you his three simple rules for framing rough openings efficiently by Scott Grice

If you can cut a 2x4 and drive a nail, then you have all the skills you need to frame a rough opening for a door. As with most homebuilding tasks, however, there's a fine line between getting it done and doing it efficiently, without causing headaches down the line. Whether framing a rough opening in a new home or on a remodeling project, I follow the same sequence. I always frame rough openings before I install the surrounding studs. This gives me plenty of room to nail the trimmers to the king studs and the king studs to the header. If the wall is load-bearing, I refer to the plans for the proper header size. If not, a 2x4 on the flat replaces the header. In this case, the plans called for a double 2x8 header. I added a 1/2-in. piece of between the 2x8s so that the header width matches the 2x4 stud thickness.

Most new doors are 6 ft. 8 in. tall. Add 3/4 in. for the jamb, 3/4 in. for finish flooring, 3/8 in. for underlayment, and 3/4 in. 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. above the subfloor. This height can vary slightly in a remodeling project depending on what's happening with the existing floors. Door widths vary, but an easy way to size the rough opening is to use the door width plus 5 in. as the distance between the king studs. There are three simple rules to framing rough openings efficiently: Minimize layout marks; maintain a simple, consistent nailing pattern; and avoid toenailing when possible.

Mark all the plates at once

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Measure the distance between the king studs (door width plus 5 in.). For efficiency, I mark only the inside edge of the king studs on the bottom and top plates. To the inside of the marks, I write T for trimmer. To the outside, I mark an X to indicate the king stud.

TIP: Mark and measure at the same time. The rectangular shape of a carpenter’s pencil makes it easy to hold against the end of the tape.

Mark the cripple locations. I save myself a little time and the potential confusion of too many lines by marking the cripple locations only on the top plate. The crow’s foot indicates the layout mark, and the X tells me which side of the line to locate the cripple. Later, I transfer these marks to the header.

Assemble the parts, then transfer the layout

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Keep edges flush. When assembling the king studs, the trimmers, and the header, I use my fingers, my eyes, and a Speed to keep all the edges flush. I alternate pairs of nails with single nails (like the #5 pattern on a domino) when nailing along the length of the trimmer or header. I separate nails by 16 in. for studs and by 8 in. for headers.

Transfer the layout marks to the header. Before nailing the header in place, I align it with the king-stud marks I made on the top plate and transfer the cripple locations to the header.

Just a hammer, please

Sequence assembly to avoid toenailing First, fasten the header to the king stud. Before installing any adjacent studs or the top plate, I connect the header to the king stud. Again, I use the #5 domino nailing pattern. To stay friends with the finish carpenter and to avoid creating bumps in the wall, I keep the edges flush

Add the cripples before the double top plate. Through-nailing is faster, stronger, and tidier than toenailing. Before adding the double top plate, I can through-nail into the king studs and the cripples. I nail the king studs on each side of the door before adding the cripples.

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Nail the plate next to the studs. To save the plumbers and the electricians from ruining their bits, I keep nails close to the studs when fastening the bottom plate to the floor.

Magazine extra: Watch a video of Scott framing this rough opening and hear why he uses a rigger's hatchet instead of a regular hammer.

Photos by: John Ross, except where noted; drawing by: Dan Thornton

From Fine Homebuilding 201, pp. 98-100 January 14, 2009

Related Topics: Framing | Doors | Interior Doors | New Construction | Remodeling

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