Installing Doors on Load-Bearing Walls

When it comes to home improvement jobs, installing doors are often some of the easiest chores to tackle. With pre-hung doors being available at most home improvement stores or online sites, even the beginning do-it-yourselfer can typically handle installing a new interior door — or even exterior door — on their own with minimal help.

However, things can be different when it comes to installing doors on a load-bearing wall. These are walls that are designed to take on much of the weight of a house and transfer it down to the foundation. Cutting into these walls to install a door can change the way that the weight is loaded onto the wall. As a consequence, this can lead to an unsafe situation where too much weight can actually cause the entire wall to collapse.

Front entry doors, back doors and entrance doors to garages are some of the examples of doors that are often installed in weight-bearing walls. You’ll want to be very familiar with how your house is constructed before you start doing any work like this. In fact, in some states and counties, it’s against the law to do any modifications to a weight-bearing wall without getting a permit.

If you are going to install a prehung door on a weight-bearing wall, you’ll want to proceed cautiously. Your first step will be to add additional support beams before removing any load-bearing studs. You’ll also want to have the new door frame completely assembled before starting any procedure to speed the process up as much as possible.

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Bio: This blog post has been provided by Eto Doors. Visit the Eto Doors website to read Eto Doors reviews and browse one of the industry’s largest selections of residential and commercial doors.