I would like to add a seven foot header to an exterior wall. My major concern is that my joists run perpendicular with the rafters. Becasue of this I am having a hard time thinking of how to temporarily brace the wall while I add the header. My idea would be to build a knee wall above the closest joist to the load bearing wall and then building a temporary wall below the knee wall. This would create a continous load from the rafter to the slab. What are your thoughts or ideas. Thanks.
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Are you located where there is a likely snow-load on the roof while you're doing this?
I live in SC. There is not threat of serious snow accumulation.
Suppport
Do you need to support the joists and rafters?? If only the rafters, is it possible to do it outside with a temporary beam/posts?? This would allow free working space on the inside of the structure.
I think the easiest would be to open up as much of the ceiling you need to put a diagnal brace between the rafters and the floor. The wall hasn't spread out, I assume, so you may not have to worry about the wall pushing out, but I would check for some kind of blocking or a strong back around the ceiling joists to the wall plates. If you don't have some kind of brace on that wall, I would put one in.
If your siding is off, maybe you can remove the underlayment, cut a notch in the studs for one piece of header to fit, then put the second piece in. Then jack studs, king studs and remove the middle studs. Don't forget to support the space in the joist bay under the header studs. There was an article about it in one of the FHB issues.