The building code only deals with load bearing walls. A header like this one is usually doubled which is probably what the carpenter assumed. Whatever the cause, a 2x will need to be added to the face of the LVL header to support the wall finish and I suspect that is what the framers eventually intend to do.

This post was edited by Renovator8 on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 20:45

Thanks for the reply. Is this what you are referring to? Seems pretty shoddy to me.

No,that's pretty unbelivablely bad. Should be two full depth 2Xs, anchored to the joists on each end.

This should be ripped out and done right. And whoever did it should be reduced to hauling trash off site. Under supervision.

RE: New construction

oh my!

LOL! Exactly what I said when I saw it. Dealing with this builder is becoming an annoyance. I seen so many monkey mistakes and we're not even to the drywall walk through yet. However, I haven't seen the prints so I don't know if this calls for a double header. It's an LVL beam so it's probably only 1.

I haven't seen the prints

If it's a custom house and you paid for the plans you should have them.

I thought the "repairs" were photoshopped in.

I wished they were Photo Shop'd. I purchased the house as new construction (ie. chose a floor plan). So I don't have and will not get the proprietary prints. I will be demanding to see the prints for evaluation, at the pre-drywall meeting, though. I'm sure they're not going to be happy when the 1 hour meeting turns into 2-3 hours.

I see nothing wrong with the work.

Normally the header would be two 2x's but because it is supported by LVL's, the structural designer specified one LVL and that was installed properly.

So, if the structural design only requires one LVL I see no problem with furring out the header to support the drywall with whatever materials were available. Adding a full height 2X to an LVL would be very poor practice because the difference in shrinkage could cause problems with the drywall later. That's why the LVL was used in the first place and two LVL's would be a waste of money.

You should look at the structural drawings before complaining to the builder. The structural drawings for this building should be on file at the local building department and available for anyone to see and a full set of the approved permit drawings should be on site at all times.

If the drawings were not reviewed by a building official you should hire a professional designer to review the building before drywall is installed. You might consider doing that anyway.

This post was edited by Renovator8 on Thu, Mar 21, 13 at 8:04

Renovator8 I was searching for a way to contact you. Do you have any interest for designing a house in AL?