My patio door will need replacing soon. The rough opening is 64 inches
wide. Now, patio doors come in the 5 or 6 foot flavour (give or take
maybe one inch), am I correct? So is 64 inches too big for a 5 foot
door and too small for a 6 foot door?

The easiest thing would be to make the opening smaller, but then I'd
have to change the vinyl siding panels on the outside wall. If I
widen, I can just cut it back. But that probably means I need to
change the header of the RO. And obviously, a 6 foot door would be
much nicer than a 5 foot. If I have to replace some siding (maybe the
whole wall since that siding is probably 20 years old) it might be very
expensive to actually downgrade to a smaller door.. :S

I'm not sure how much load the wall is bearing. It is a two story +
basement home. The door is on the first floor. The floor and ceiling
joists are parrallel with the wall and the I beam is perpendicular with
the wall (about 3 feet away). That exterior wall (width of the house)
is about 25 feet wide. The house is rectangular with no gables.

Would it be necessary to put up a temporary wall a few feet into the
house to serve as a support while the header is replaced or is there an
easier way? Would screwing a 2x6 across all the studs above the header
be sufficient?

wrote:
My patio door will need replacing soon. The rough opening is 64 inches
wide. Now, patio doors come in the 5 or 6 foot flavour (give or take
maybe one inch), am I correct? So is 64 inches too big for a 5 foot
door and too small for a 6 foot door?

The easiest thing would be to make the opening smaller, but then I'd
have to change the vinyl siding panels on the outside wall. If I
widen, I can just cut it back. But that probably means I need to
change the header of the RO. And obviously, a 6 foot door would be
much nicer than a 5 foot. If I have to replace some siding (maybe the
whole wall since that siding is probably 20 years old) it might be very
expensive to actually downgrade to a smaller door.. :S

Alternatively you could trim out around the door with some expanded PVC
trim. You're only making up a couple or three inches on each side so
wrapping trim around the opening would probably look just fine.

I'm not sure how much load the wall is bearing. It is a two story +
basement home. The door is on the first floor. The floor and ceiling
joists are parrallel with the wall and the I beam is perpendicular with
the wall (about 3 feet away). That exterior wall (width of the house)
is about 25 feet wide. The house is rectangular with no gables.

Would it be necessary to put up a temporary wall a few feet into the
house to serve as a support while the header is replaced or is there an
easier way? Would screwing a 2x6 across all the studs above the header
be sufficient?

I've done it both ways. The first way is the standard way to do it and
the only one I would recommend without actually seeing the situation in
person.

R

Have you tried to special order a new door the right size?
I've done it many times (not that type of door), but it doesn't hurt to
ask several places.

I haven't looked into it yet. I want an idea of these alternatives
first as I was told it would be a few hundred dollars more to get the
custom size. If for those same few hundred dollars I can get a six
foot door and not have to worry about the size next time it needs
changing (by myself or future owners), then I would prefer to go that
way.

Thanks for the suggestion, I may have to look into it..

wrote:
Have you tried to special order a new door the right size?
I've done it many times (not that type of door), but it doesn't hurt to
ask several places.