Expert: Dan Griffin - 11/13/2008

Question
QUESTION: My existing entry door is a double french door with side lites. (an 8 ft opening)  I want to remove the side lites and move the door from the exterior wall two feet inside the great room.  There will be an angled wall on each side of the door opening and I will attach them to the floor and ceiling with a top and bottom plate. (I will cut out the damaged flooring and remove the drywall from the ceiling)  Then I need to frame the rough opening for the door which consist of  a king and cripple stud. This needs to sit on a bottom plate too but how will I attach such a small plate to the floor?  Will having the side walls and cripples above the door be strong enough support for the door?  Any advice on framing angled walls/corners would really help too.  Thanks.
         ______________________________
  exterior     |     8'existing step         | exterior
 ______________|          |________
         \ \       new bump in          / /
   2' side  \ \          / /
    wall->   \ \  studs          / /
         \_\[][] 6'rough opening [][]/_/

         great room

ANSWER: Bobbye, I think I see what you are planning, but not sure.

Is this a slab house or wood floor system (stem wall or basement)?
You are planning on leaving the existing header and framing in the outside wall?

I assume the doors are about 3' each.  Thes should require a 6'-2" rough opening.  You will need a stud and cripple and another 3 1/2" to recieve  the side walls on each side.  If you are thinking you will get an angled set back, it won't be much, cetainly nothing like a typical 45 degreee angle.  You also need to thin about the exterior finish and how you will deal with a very short turn back at the door wall.

The best thing to do would be to get a sheet of masonite, plywood, or cardboard that is a full 4x8.  Draw the opening to scale to see the effect.  I can't see it, but you might consider moving the entire door and sidelight unit back in a squared back recess.

It would be possible to bring the side walls through to the interior finish line and mount stud and trimmer to the side walls without plates at the floor.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yes it's a slab and yes I plan on leaving the existing header and opening on the outside wall.  I angled the 2 side walls at 22.5 degrees to try to make the 3rd wall about 7ft wide. That only leaves me with a 6" return on either side of the door which I'm not sure how to attach to the concrete or if it will give enough support to the door.  Is there a minimum wall requirement for a door wall?  I thought the angled side walls would soften the look but you may be right that I should have a u shaped entry instead.  It would also give me 1 ft on either side of the door.
My house is stucco but I was planning on tiling the new  entryway.
I've been searching for days and have only found one very short mention of a bump-in although I've walked the neighborhood and seen a couple of pictures in a magazine.  Is it called something else?  Everything I read assumes that the exterior door is in a straight line on an exterior wall.  I tried searching for bump-out windows but can only find installation instructions.  

Answer
If you have a 6" return to the door, you also have a 3 1/2" stud wall joining it at an angle so the base plate can be almost 10".  With carefull predrilling to avoid splitting, you could pin this to the slab.  You might also consider using a piece of metal stud track to hold the bottom of the studs which can be as short as you would like.  Stop at a commercial job site asn ask for some scrap track or do the whole entryway in metal studs which would be my personal choice.  Metal studs would not require a header as such and avoids the need for trimmers, don't impose a load on the ceiling, easy to work, and can be bent to your 22 1/2 outside corner.  I would plan on rimming the rough opening with 2x4 to make fastening the jamb easier.

I still think you will see more of the problems and solutions if you lay this thing out full size on a slab or cardboard, draw each stud, consider sheathing and gypsum installation, show jamb and trim.  It will make this thing much easier to grasp and speed the finish product.

You might try "recessed entryway" if you are trying to find pictures and ideas.