# installing a new door in an existing wall



## woodworkbykirk (Sep 25, 2011)

wengang1 said:


> Hi all.
> I'm thinking about putting a door in an existing finished wall this weekend.
> It's a 2x4 stud wall with drywall on either side. The wall is not load-bearing.
> 
> ...



definintely remove the baseboard on both sides of the wall all the way back to the corner, makes tying it back in much easier and cleaner

for cutting out for the opening you can do it one of two ways. remove locate the center of where the doorway will go then mark out the rough opening size on the drywall then go back to the next stud and cut the drywall 1/2 way on the stud. from there frame in the rough opening. some will make the r.o 2" larger than the door itself to allow for the jamb and shimming i prefer 2 1/2" which can give more room for shimming if the framing isnt perfectly plumb

for the header you dont need a 2x8 if its only a partition wall, a single 2x4 on its flat which is crippled down to 83" off the floor is standard practice

patch the drywall and tape it as neccessary. hang the new door and case it..


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## hand drive (Apr 21, 2012)

woodworkbykirk has stated it perfectly well, I want to add some info as well which matches Kirks' info also 

diligently take the base board off and then find studs. pick a side that will work for one side of the door. your main issue here is, if the studs do not wok out with the door exactly which they probably will not you will want a floor to ceiling stud ( king stud) at both sides of your door so it might be best to plan on taking down the drywall floor to ceiling. that will make it much easier. if you can use a pre existing stud as a starting point for one side of the door then use it as the king stud and cut a jack stud and nail it to the side of the king. next, measure from that jack and find the other side of the door, you will probably have to cut the drywall over one more stud past where the king and jack will go so the spot is open. 

witht the drywall out of the way go ahead and frame in the king stud floor plate to top plate then add your jack stud. with both king and jack studs framed on both sides you can then measure up from the top of the jacks to the top of the header however high the header is, and make a horizontal level line across wall studs that are left in between the two new king/jack studs. cut along this line and take out studs from there down to the floor and then add header setting onto the jacks. the top of the header should have the bottoms of the top portion of the studs left in the wall from your cut resting on it. 

at this stage you can do all of this work from just taking drywall off of one side of the wall only. once your rough door opening is established cut the drywall on the other side of the wall. just follow the rough opening of the jacks and header with your saw, this saves drywall work from having to be done on that side of the wall.

last for framing, cut the bottom plate out from inside of jack stud to inside of jack stud. put drywall onto open wall side and tape. hang door, wa-la


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