Wall framing for stair landing with window
ken_o
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
I am trying to figure out how to frame an exterior wall which will have a stair landing with a window (see attached PDFs). The first floor will have standard 8 ft. high walls, and the second floor will have 5′-4.5″ walls supporting scissor trusses to give enough ceiling height in the middle of the floor area (storage areas and closets in the lower spaces). The window will land right in the middle of the first floor top plate and second floor joists. I’d like to build a strong wall with good shear strength, but I’d really like a window on that landing. Any ideas? Thanks.
Replies
I'll try to respond to this tonight. Got to run now.
We have done this many times. The fact that you are attaching the lower wall 8' wall to a landing will stiffen things up. One way to do this is to frame the lower 8' wall normally, but just stop the top plates where the king studs of the window opening would be and stop the bottom plate of the upper wall in the same location. Then frame the window section at full height so that the king studs go all the way up to the top plate of your second story wall.
Honestly, that doesn't look like a big deal at all. The sheathing should handle the shear loads. If you're not confident, run it past an engineer. And don't forget to order the window with safety glass.
Thanks guys. I can picture that.