cutting out king studs on a door rough in

[jjcold]

Okay, here's my next big question. Please bear with me, I'm not in
the trade, only a layman having his first house built. Now, there's an education!! I only know enough about this stuff to probably look like a fool!

They just completed the drywall installation and are getting ready for tape and texture. So, obviously, framing inspection is signed off. Today I noticed someone had cut a stud out of the opening for the door leading from the house to the garage. It is the outermost stud in the opening, is that called the king stud? It is the stud that supports the header. Then they added a stud on the other side of the door opening. Apparently they had to move the door opening over about an inch. Why, I could not tell. May have to do with the width of the pre-made kitchen cabinets since this door will be next to a cabinet. I checked my digital pics taken during framing (only took them for memories, but wow, what a smart idea for future reference!) and this wall is not a load bearing wall. there isn't even a truss sitting on it. But, I'm wondering, is this going to cause a problem later down the road? Could that header cause the door jamb to sag or warp? Doesn't this seem like a chintzy thing to do, especially after the inspection? Thanks for your advice.

[Rich]

The only thing I can think for doing what they did was the rough opening was not large enough for the door that was specified there.
If it's in a non-load bearing wall I wouldn't be too concerned about the door sagging. As long as the hinge side of the door has a kind stud going from floor to ceiling you should be ok.
The member that holds the header is called a trimmer. A king stud is just like a normal wall stud where it goes from floor to ceiling - the difference is typically that there is a trimmer attached to it and performing it's "king" like duty of holding the whole thing up. For lack of a better explanation.. haha.

[jjcold]

Ah, okay. that helped. So, it's the trimmer stud that was cut out. It still has the king stud going from floor to top plate. and yes, the trimmer stud was removed from the hinge side of the door. I can't imagine why this was done, as the effective size of the door opening is the same. A stud was nailed on to the trimmer stud on the other side! So, I'm thinking the door opening wasn't framed in the correct place to accomodate the pre made kitchen cabs and this was easier and cheaper than a custom made cab for that spot.

[jjcold]

I spoke to the super today and he said, "Yup, we had to move that door over so I could get a full moulding on there, not cut and splice it all up. Every one I've spoken to said as long as it's not a load bearing wall (it isn't) it'll be fine.

[Rich]

I agree with what everyone else says. On a non load bearing wall I typically don't put more than a 2x4 on it's side for a header unless it's a 4' door.