Window and door header size viewer
Typical header sizes by opening width for an exterior bearing wall carrying roof and ceiling, with jack studs and notes.
Get this tool with its role plan
This is a premium tool. It comes with its role's plan: sign in, then add the role in Billing.
Comes with the carpenter plan: every tool for the role, from $10.20 a month at the launch price.
- Your own numbers, worked out as often as you like
- The full header cut list you can print or save to My work
- 3 cited sources, linked, with the checks to make
- Every other tool for the same role, in the same plan
- A plain-words read of your result (a fuller AI read with the Bifrost AI add-on)
Included in these role plans
Example result · fictional numbers
What you get: header cut list
Worked out by this tool from its default inputs. Its role plan lets you run your own numbers, print the sheet and save it.
36 in opening: 2-2x6 header cut 39 in, 1 jack stud each side
- Typical use
- Small window or interior door in a bearing wall.
- Typical header
- 2-2x6 header, 1 jack stud each side.
- Notes
- 2-2x4 may work under light roofs; 2-2x6 is the common safe default.
- Tools needed
- Circular saw, nailer, 1/2 in spacer for 3-1/2 in walls.
- Common mistakes
- Forgetting the spacer so the header is flush on one face only.
Header cut list
- Width band
- 36 in sits in "Up to 3 ft"
- Header
- 2-2x6 (2 plies, 5 1/2 in deep)
- Header cut length
- 39 in (rough opening 36 in plus 2 jack studs at 1 1/2 in)
- Header pieces
- 2 pieces of 2x6
- Header lumber
- 6.5 lineal ft, 6.5 board ft
- Spacer or fill
- 1/2 in between the plies: plywood or OSB spacer, or rigid foam for an insulated header
Also on the sheet
- Framing at each opening · 5 lines, starting with “Jack studs”
- Does the viewer's table fit this wall? · 4 lines, starting with “Loads”
The plain-words read of this example
For a 36 in rough opening the viewer gives 2-2x6 (2 plies, 5 1/2 in deep) with 1 jack stud each side. Cut the plies 39 in long and the jacks 81 in; that is 6.5 lineal ft of 2x6 for 1 opening. Inside the simplified table: roof and ceiling only, 30 psf ground snow or less, building 36 ft wide or less. Header depths are dressed lumber sizes; on bearing walls an insulated header saves heat where a solid one leaks it.
3 cited sources
- The right header for every wall (Fine Homebuilding)
- Sizes of structural lumber (from NDS Supplement Tables 1A and 1B) (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
- Advanced framing: insulated headers (Building America Solution Center (U.S. DOE / PNNL))
Plus 5 step-by-step checks, a print layout and a link that reopens it with your numbers.