La Cantina Bifold Doors Header

16 years ago

I am planning on installing a La Cantina exterior bi-fold door in an addition we are going to build. I am finishing up the plans for the addition and about the last thing I have left to do is to size the header to go over the door. The La Cantina website says to use a header with minimal deflection but does not specify what an acceptable amount is. I called La Cantina but the person I talked to could not give me a limit either. I imagine there must be an official limit as to how much the beam can bend but I sure am not having any luck finding it. Can anyone on this site who has installed a La Cantina door tell me the maximum the beam can bend before damaging the door?

Thanks,

Matt

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Comments (4)

sierraeast
16 years ago
I would have it engineered for a steel header but flex isn't limited to movement of the header only, but the opening as a whole.All openings have some flex regardless of header size.Openings are generally the weak point of a frame concerning flex, but not necessarily loads.
snmhanson
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the follow-up. I still could engineer it for a steel header but I will have to do it by hand since the software I have only does wood/engineered products. I will look into it though and see if I can remember how to do that. I should have added that the wall construction is ICF so I guess I could actually just design a lintel out of concrete. It just seems like it would be easier to use an engineered beam. Also, FWIW the Nana Wall site specifies the lesser of L/720 or 1/4" deflection for the minimum header over their doors. I can't assume that the same would work for La Cantina doors but I am guessing it would be a pretty safe number to use. In any case, thanks for the reply and if anyone has anything else to add please feel free.

Matt
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sierraeast
16 years ago
ICF's definetely take the flex of the opening out of the equasion concerning the opening of the wall. No worries. Not being familiar with icf's, can you knotch in a beam pocket to accept a steel header and the concrete/lintel idea sounds good as well. Otherwise i would suggest looking into lvl's as you can get them in thicknesses more than 1-3/4" these days. On our stick built framing, i used 1/3/4" x 11-7/8" microlam lvl's tripled for the 2x6 exterior headers.Now they have 5-1/2 " lvl's for 2x6 exterior's, 3-1/2" for 2x4's ,etc.
snmhanson
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for the additional follow up. The ICFs can easily be notched out for a steel beam but the more I'm thinking about it the more the concrete lintel seems to make sense. Steel and wood can flex significantly but concrete has minimal flex in it. Furthermore, the additional work involved in a concrete lintel may be offset by the cost of a wood or steel beam. I will talk to my contractor to see what would be easiest for him and all else being equal I will probably go with the concrete lintel. Thanks again for the input. It really helped me think things through and get a better picture in my head of what the possible solutions are.

Matt

La Cantina Bifold Doors Header

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La Cantina Bifold Doors Header

Comments (4)

sierraeast

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