[the_nite_owl]

I am building a wall to replace the garage door in my basement.
I will be using 2x6 lumber for the framing. What is the recommended spacing for the studs?

The width is 8' with a 36" door in the center. After the width of the pre-hung door frame and the two studs beside it and the stud attached to the side wall of the opening I end up with about two feet and one half inch of space.

If I were going 16" on center then I would have an odd sized space.
Is 24" on center OK for 2x6 construction? Then only one stud is needed in the middle but I am shy by a half inch.

Suggestions on how to handle this? And should I measure out from the door frame to the next stud or out from the wall to the stud or does it matter?

[RickJ]

For an opening that small, there's no concern over standard spacing: Just put one 2x6 on each side of the door - centered in the opening.

[the_nite_owl]

I was thinking along these lines using 2x6 framing. It leaves me with 24.5" spaces rather than 24". I may be able to use a slightly thicker pressure treated on the sides to fill in the extra half inch. Just thinking about how the insulation will fit.
Hope this renders well in the browser.

--------------------------------------------
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOO| OOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOO| OOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOO| OOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO|------------------|OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO|------------------|OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||<----- 38" ---->||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|<-- 24.5-->||OOOOOOOOOOO||<---24.5 ->|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
|OOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOOOOO||OOOOOOOO|
-------------- OOOOOOOOOOO--------------
Maybe this will come out better. The O's are empty space.

[RickJ]

Good point on the insulation. By "no matter", I was speaking of the structure.

Now thinking about the insulation, if it were me I'd probably go 16" o/c from the door for the 2x6's so that standard insulation will fit in the first space, then pour the loose type insulation into the other spaces.

Of course this means cutting into the drywall to do it, but off the top of my head I'm thinking that's the way I'd go with it...

[the_nite_owl]

I am leaning towards using a full 2" pressure board on both ends to suck up the extra space and using 24" spacing and insulation. I figure the less framing the less cold transfers through the wall and I can keep the spacing just right for a 24" wide roll of insulation.
The garage area is in shade until late afternoon so in the winter it is the coldest location and rarely gets any sun so whatever I can do to insulate will help.

I have no idea what I am going to cover the outside wall with. I assume I should use plywood then cover with a foam sheet before applying any siding?
Anything commonly available as a neutral siding? I have old aluminum on the rest of the house but this is also the garage area and surrounded on both sides by the concrete covered cinder block foundation so I am not sure how to make it look good.

[RickJ]

I am leaning towards using a full 2" pressure board on both ends to suck up the extra space and using 24" spacing and insulation. I figure the less framing the less cold transfers through the wall and I can keep the spacing just right for a 24" wide roll of insulation.
The garage area is in shade until late afternoon so in the winter it is the coldest location and rarely gets any sun so whatever I can do to insulate will help.

Good thinking. Would certainly work.

I have no idea what I am going to cover the outside wall with. I assume I should use plywood then cover with a foam sheet before applying any siding?

That's not my area of experience at all. Once you have it opened up you may be able to see how the rest of it was done... then just do the same or similar.

Anything commonly available as a neutral siding? I have old aluminum on the rest of the house but this is also the garage area and surrounded on both sides by the concrete covered cinder block foundation so I am not sure how to make it look good.

I'm not picturing the scene very well where your new construction will be. You might consider a cheap vinyl siding to cover the whole area, then get a paint match on the old siding that's on the rest of the house and just spray the vinyl.. . just a thought.

[the_nite_owl]

This is a new wall to replace the garage door so there is nothing to open up. I will be butting up against cinderblock on both sides.

For the time being I will have plywood on the outside and may just hit it with some good outdoor paint for the time being. Since the garage door was white I guess it will not look too out of place as white wood.

Thanks for the help.

[RickJ]

If the total wall that is now cinderblock is not very big, you may be able to get away with cheap vinyl siding that won't hit the wallet too hard... then paint it to match fairly closely with the rest of the house.

... or maybe try stucco over the whole thing and do it yourself...

... haha, or leave it wood, and paint it all the same color then paint some lines that look like cinderblock lines on the wood part. I'd bet no one would be able to tell it until they got up close to it.

... yeah, I know, kind of Rube Goldberg, but... :o

[skiberger]

Add another stud each side of your door framing. According to your drawing this will give you 23" inside the studs. 24 o.c. insulation will fit in the bay w/o any air gaps.

For the outside, Rick has some good ideas. One thing you can do is keep the exterior plywood flush w/ the block, mesh the whole front area (foundation included) and then re-parge the whole front side of the foundation. This may be what Rick was referring to when he mentioned stucco.

[the_nite_owl]

Add another stud each side of your door framing. According to your drawing this will give you 23" inside the studs. 24 o.c. insulation will fit in the bay w/o any air gaps.

For the outside, Rick has some good ideas. One thing you can do is keep the exterior plywood flush w/ the block, mesh the whole front area (foundation included) and then re-parge the whole front side of the foundation. This may be what Rick was refering to when he mentioned stucco.

I need to re-parge the exposed portion of the foundation anyway. My other current issue is replacing the lower corner cinderblocks where the dropped away from the house. Years of water running down that side of the house moved the footer below the garage a little and pulled a couple blocks with it.
Had a contractor look at it and he said it is all fine, just seal the crack, mortar in some new blocks and make sure there are no more water issues.
The problem was just where the former owner had the downspout from the gutters. It ran behind the 2.5' retaining wall instead of OVER the wall 8" into the driveway.

I have to give some thought to how I want it to look. Parging the whole area may work out but I may want to keep it white and slightly recessed. My house has a shared driveway with my neighbor whose house is somewhat of a mirror of mine with a few minor changes. Aesthetically it may work out better keeping a similar impression between the two though his house still has a garage door. I have to ponder it for a while.

Great suggestions. Luckily I will not have to make a decision for a while as I still have to fixe the cinderblocks, get the concrete slab poured and frame the wall before I have to make a final decision other than whether the wall insets a bit or goes flush to the outside.

Thanks guys.