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Demolition and Framing a French Door

Berky and the crew remove the old horsehair plaster in the existing 1890 kitchen. The framing and sheathing are original to the house. They are creating an opening for a 6-foot French door using a double laminated header to carry the weight across the opening. The plywood sandwiched in the middle of the header adds to its strength. The header is nailed in place and will carry the weight of the second floor to the jack studs on the side. There is some excess board sheathing to cut around the opening. Bob remarks that it is not as strong as clapboards and must be cut carefully. The remaining boards are firmly attached to the outside and filler pieces are added to equalize the sheathing thickness across the face of the house. The sill will be level once the added layers of particle board that were later installed are removed. Berky applies butyl tape to the base of the opening for the weathertight installation of the French doors.

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Chapters from this episode

High-Perfomance French Doors Now Playing

High-Perfomance French Doors

Demolition and Framing a French Door Now Playing

Demolition and Framing a French Door

Building a Shallow Hip Roof Now Playing

Building a Shallow Hip Roof

Installing French Doors Now Playing

Installing French Doors

Demolition and Reconstruction of Victorian Foundation Now Playing

Demolition and Reconstruction of Victorian Foundation

Clip Transcript For:

Demolition and Framing a French Door

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" We need eye protection and particle masks and we're gonna start removing the old. Horse hair plaster and everything that's in here right yes OK go for. This house is from the 1890s. And here you can see that the studs are full dimensional. The sheeting on the outside of the house is actual boards. And plenty of shrinkage when he had cracks when he has space for cold infiltration. And what's going to be done here next right Tim is we're gonna open this all up so we can re framing for the French doors that's correct we have a six what French door that's gonna going. That'll be the first thing we'll do we'll actually. Center the opening per the plans put any double laminated header going across here for structural bearing a couple of you've cut out the opening for the French doors. This house is balloon framed right that's correct those those studs go right there from the sill all the way to the double top plate of the roof and we've taken out a couple of men there is a roof load here right that's correct so we should hurry up and put the header. Yes we -- okay this gets started."

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Engineered Wood Framing

Framing a house using engineered wood has many advantages. Glue laminated beams are stronger than their conventional solid sawn counterparts. (Laminated veneer lumber comes in smaller dimensions for headers and ridge beams.) Engineered I-joists span greater distances and their stiffness prevents squeaky floors. Oriented strand board sheathing prevents racking and provides good nailer for siding.

Discussing Efficient Framing Materials

Bob outlines the steps involved in framing up the house. Once the first floor joists were in place, the crew started in on the subfloor using ToughPly, a thicker plywood product from Georgia-Pacific. A single layer of ToughPly can be used under hardwood, tile, or carpet, and its quick-fit tongue and groove design saves time fitting the panels together. Next the crew framed the sidewalls with Riverside CDX plywood sheathing harvested from sustainable forests in British Columbia. While only slightly thicker than standard OSB or plywood, it's three times as stiff for a greater load carrying capacity and its favorable weight to strength ratio makes its easier to work with.

Framing with Engineered Wood I-Joists

Bob and Ryley meet up with framing contractor Kevin Parquette of Timberline Building Specialists. Kevin comments on the advantages of working with the 28 ft. long engineered wood All-Joists from Boise Cascade. Designed for high performance and stiffness, All-Joists significantly speed up the framing process. Next Kevin points out the 1 1/8" engineered wood rim board. For fastening Kevin's crew used 12-penny nails covered with a glue which is activated by the speed of the nail coming out of the gun.

Tour of the First Floor Framing

Bob tours the newly opened up first floor of the house and the turns his attention to the little family room addition. The wall has been bumped out a couple of feet and at an angle. Bob flashes back to the construction of the new addition. The carpenters began by framing the deck with pressure-treated 2 x 10s anchored to the existing frame and set on concrete footings in the ground. The framed the walls with conventional 2 x 4s and attaching plywood to stabilize the structure. Then they framed knee walls to supports the windows that will fill in the corner of the addition. The second floor is now supported using LVLs attached to a 6 x 6 clear fir post which transfers the weight of the upper floors to a new footing directly below with the addition is framed around it. The effect when finished is similar to a greenhouse.