A header is usually referred to the beam that spans
across the top of the doorway, hallway or window. They are structurally
designed to carry heavy roof and floor loads. If you're building a new
house, room addition and have a set of blueprints, the header sizes will
usually be located on one of the floor plans.
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Header Framing Trick: Some structural engineers won't
let you do this, but most of them will. If you need a 4 x 6 window
header and you just ran out of 4 x 6. You can usually make one yourself,
by nailing two, 2 x 6's together.
When I make my own window or door headers, I usually place a piece of
3/8 plywood in between the two boards and then nail them together. Now
if you're sharp with math, and you know that a 2 x 6 is only an 1 - 1/2
inches wide, we've got a problem.
An 1 - 1/2 plus 1 - 1/2 plus 3/8 equals 3 - 3/8 inches, that's an eighth
of an inch shorter than are 3 - 1/2 inch wall studs. That might not be
the case always and this could be one of those believe it or not
construction situations
The best explanation I could provide you with, doesn't make much sense.
If any one of the three pieces of wood you're going to use to create
your own header with is just a little bit larger than it's supposed to
be and you use a half-inch piece of plywood, you're going to have a
header that thicker than your wall studs.
Trust me on this one, I don't know how many times I watched an
experienced framing carpenter use a piece of half-inch plywood, only to
end up with a thicker header that usually ended up sticking out of the
wall.
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