I want to frame an opening in a crawl space below my kitchen. The rough opening will be 32". How large of a header do I need to use?
Already Tried: Asking Harold the carpenter. He says a 2x6 is sufficient
I can help
What is the depth of your ceiling joists?
They are set on 16
Sorry, you said below, floor joists.
What is the depth of your floor joist members (2x6, 2x8, etc)?
set on 20 2x6
I am not sure what "set on 20 2x6" means
the floor joists are 2x6 spaced at 20 inches apart
So you want to remove a portion of one floor joist and provide cross framing to pick up the load from the cut joist?
Close. There are two beams that run under the floor. The floor joists run across the beams and run parallel to the wall I want to cut the hole in. The wall I want to cut is made of 2x4 lumber set on 16 inch centers.
The key item I need to know is the wall a bearing wall?
From the configuration your describe, it does not sound like it.
Yes It is an exterior wall--weight bearing single story
So your roof system bears on the top of this wall?
yes
So you are just cutting one of your 2x4 studs in the wall and want to put in a 32" +/- header to carry the load from the one cut wall stud?
I would frame in a header with a double 2"x6" (6" dimension vertical)
Thank you!
Good Luck with your project!
Thanks for confirming what Harold told me.
Experience: Over 28 years of Structural Engineering experience