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Ok, so, this is not really woodworking, but it is a shop related project (maybe this belongs in "Shop Setup, Layout, and Design"?)...
** My actual questions are at the end of this post **
So, I have a 20x20 workshop in my basement, but the only door is a ridiculously tiny 'builder's special' 32" (I think). I actually had to disassemble my work bench outside and reassemble it to get it in when we moved in last year.
Well, I have a 72" wide window a couple of feet to the right of that door. Since I am also putting in a bedroom into the basement in a room that doesn't have a window, I decided that I would take out this window, relocate it to the bedroom, and put up some double doors in it's place.
I found a set of double 30" exterior doors on Craigslist for $50, but they didn't have a frame. Well, being the rookie that I am, I bought them anyway. Months later, I was still looking for a frame to put them in. The prehung 6" frames were going to run $200 from the cheapest place I could find, and even then, there's no guarantee that I could get the doors perfect.
Anyway, I started looking at prices for a set of prehung doors with the frame, and found a surplus store that was asking $300. I figured this was better than paying $200 for just the frame, and cussing my way through a day or two of shimming/routing/etc. to get my slabs to fit.
Well, I was about to call the surplus store and tell them I wanted the doors, but I decided to try one more time to call local Lowes to see what they had. Well, it took 7 stores, but I finally got a hit:
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Ok, so, here's where I need help:
1) I had originally planned to reuse the window header for the door header, since my original doors were not as wide as the window. However, now, my doors are 3" wider than my current window opening (72" opening, 75" doors).
The header over the current window has two trimmer studs on each side. My step-dad said that I could just take one of the trimmer studs out on each side, and put double king studs on the outside, as long as I screw everything together well. I'm not sure if that's correct, though.
I guess it really depends on what the requirements are for a 75" opening. Does anyone know if dual trimmers are required? Maybe the builder just added them to take up space, instead of actually being structural? Here is a photo of the current header:
2) We're trying to figure out what to do outside the double doors. It is under a deck that just has pine straw right now, however, I really don't want to be tracking pine straw into my workshop every time I go through the doors. So, we are thinking of pouring a small concrete landing as wide as the doors, and maybe 2-3' deep (we don't want a large/full concrete patio, mostly b/c our kids have a swing that they use under the deck).
A seccond option would be to add some pavers the same size as the concrete pad would be (door width, 2-3' depth). But, we are wondering whether pavers would be a good choice right outside the workshop. We're just not sure if they would withstand the traffic/tools/etc.
** My actual questions are at the end of this post **
So, I have a 20x20 workshop in my basement, but the only door is a ridiculously tiny 'builder's special' 32" (I think). I actually had to disassemble my work bench outside and reassemble it to get it in when we moved in last year.
Well, I have a 72" wide window a couple of feet to the right of that door. Since I am also putting in a bedroom into the basement in a room that doesn't have a window, I decided that I would take out this window, relocate it to the bedroom, and put up some double doors in it's place.
I found a set of double 30" exterior doors on Craigslist for $50, but they didn't have a frame. Well, being the rookie that I am, I bought them anyway. Months later, I was still looking for a frame to put them in. The prehung 6" frames were going to run $200 from the cheapest place I could find, and even then, there's no guarantee that I could get the doors perfect.
Anyway, I started looking at prices for a set of prehung doors with the frame, and found a surplus store that was asking $300. I figured this was better than paying $200 for just the frame, and cussing my way through a day or two of shimming/routing/etc. to get my slabs to fit.
Well, I was about to call the surplus store and tell them I wanted the doors, but I decided to try one more time to call local Lowes to see what they had. Well, it took 7 stores, but I finally got a hit:
-----
Ok, so, here's where I need help:
1) I had originally planned to reuse the window header for the door header, since my original doors were not as wide as the window. However, now, my doors are 3" wider than my current window opening (72" opening, 75" doors).
The header over the current window has two trimmer studs on each side. My step-dad said that I could just take one of the trimmer studs out on each side, and put double king studs on the outside, as long as I screw everything together well. I'm not sure if that's correct, though.
I guess it really depends on what the requirements are for a 75" opening. Does anyone know if dual trimmers are required? Maybe the builder just added them to take up space, instead of actually being structural? Here is a photo of the current header:
2) We're trying to figure out what to do outside the double doors. It is under a deck that just has pine straw right now, however, I really don't want to be tracking pine straw into my workshop every time I go through the doors. So, we are thinking of pouring a small concrete landing as wide as the doors, and maybe 2-3' deep (we don't want a large/full concrete patio, mostly b/c our kids have a swing that they use under the deck).
A seccond option would be to add some pavers the same size as the concrete pad would be (door width, 2-3' depth). But, we are wondering whether pavers would be a good choice right outside the workshop. We're just not sure if they would withstand the traffic/tools/etc.
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