Making a square doorway into an arch

[nealtw]

The header sits on a jack stud with a full stud beside that. So you would just notch what you have to take the header. A short header needs one jack stud each side, a five foot header would take two jack studs each side.
I will bet if your house was built like that, you had cracks in the plaster around the doorway.

 

[drewdin]

there are a few cracks here and there, its pretty old (1927) and nothing is where you would expect it to be. i finished the arch, used a 2x3 but no Jack studs. If I started to add jack studs, etc i would not only shrink the entrance but i would have to remove the flooring to get at the footing and it would have opened another big can of worms.

I don't have any more time or flooring money to find more things that need to be fixed. hopefully I made it more solid than what it was.

 

[nealtw]

You were not paying attention to details. I said to cut the top of the studs that were there so the header would fit. You can get some support out of the arches. If the arch was to fail, it would break in the middle and push the studs apart. So you can protect it from that by putting 2x4 blocks between the studs, level with the bottom of the arches. I would go wall to wall with the blocks and tell the wife they are for hanging pictures.

 

[drewdin]

I didn't cut the studs but I did nail a 2x3 connecting the top of the two studs and on the sides of the two king studs. (I think that's what they are called). I did put 2x4 braces all through the inside of the arch, its not hollow. The stud on the left could not be cut, it is the load bearing stud.

 

[nealtw]

Ya, it can be cut and filled with the header and carry the load, but like you said it been there for years. I just like to bring stuff up, closer to code when I'm there.

 

[notmrjohn]

what's the distance from ceiling to top of nice looking arch? Put the header behind the arch. That is between the two facings. If that makes sense. You may have to adjust curve of arch when you add 2x's on each side. I do like the look of whatcha got there.

Baring wall? Is that like those folding screens in old Vaudeville doctor's office sketches where the good lookpmg babe goes behind and starts hanging her clothes over? Then it falls over and the doc sez "Helooooo Nurse!"

 

[drewdin]

From the ceiling to the peak of the arch is about 9", 4 of those inches are the beam above.

yes, it is that type of wall, unfortunately there's nothing to see on the other side.