Headers Stair Opening

12/23/2022 at 9:21:32 PM

Can you clarify when you say home inspector - do you mean inspector when you wanted to sell the house or inspector from the city?

12/23/2022 at 10:04:06 PM

It was a home inspector reviewing the home...the city inspection passed (however they passed a lot of things they shouldn't have)

12/23/2022 at 11:05:37 PM

Hi Taylor in my experience as a framer I always doubled the header or trimmers around stair opening and sometime we use a triple all depend of the spans it's a good framing practice and also its a code.

The OBC said in article 9.23.9.5. (1) header joists around floor opening shall be doubled when they exceed 1.2 m in length. (2) the size of header joists exceeding 3.2 m in length shall be determined by calculations.

Article 9.23.9.6. Said (1) trimmer joists around floor opening shall be doubled when the length of the header joist exceeds 800 mm.

(2) when the header joist exceeds 2 m in length, the size of the trimmer joist shall be determined by calculations.

As you can see it's a code

Hope you find this information helpful, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me Thanks Ricardo 289 423 4995

12/25/2022 at 12:21:49 AM

The previous respondent answered your question although the Code rule refers to dimension lumber. The header spans less than 1.2 m & is not required to be doubled. LVL lumber is much stronger than dimension lumber. You probably wouldn't exceed a micron of deflection unless it was supporting the entire structure above or perhaps if you parked a tank on it.

12/26/2022 at 11:16:27 PM

Framers always double headers and trimmers