The only exterior door in my basement is in a framed area that only makes sense to be an unfinished work room. For that reason, I would like to create an opening in a load bearing wall so that the exterior door would be accessible from the finished part of the basement. The load bearing wall in the basement is built with 2x6 and is about 9ft high. There are two stories above this. The basement rafters run perpendicular to the load bearing wall. I have attached a picture detailing what I would like to do. 1. what would be a reasonable size for the opening. I wasn't plan to have a door in the opening. Just opened to the finished space. 2. How big should the space between the finished room and the exterior (i.e. mudroom) door be. 3. What size header would I need? Is there a calculator somewhere? I will need to build a temporary support wall while i get the new header in place. Are there any tips on the best way to accomplish this? Take Care all

Hey all, so my wife has a little business doing wall design and art installation, and of course I do a lot of work for her. She has a job right now where she has a 1x4 zig zagging floating shelf I'm making out of oak installed over tile which in tern is on plywood that is affixed to a stone wall. ... I know right? The only good thing is that it will only have some air plants put on it and a few small hexagonal mirrors partially supported by it. So my plan right now is to: [list] [*]drill 3/8" holes half way through the back of the oak 1x4" shelf, [*]use a masonry bit to drill 3/8" holes (or whichever size is needed) through the tile and into the stone behind the tile and hammer 3/8" x 3 3/4" wedge anchors [*]then slide the ziq zagging shelf onto the bolts, probably using some gorilla glue or something to make sure they don't slide back off. [/list] Does that sound like it will be a reasonably sturdy shelf set up? The stone is the thin and long natural flag stones and I don't have a way of being positive I'm drilling into the grout and not into the stone because of the crazy tile wall attached to it. Is there any kind of glue I could use between the shelf and tile to give it a little extra strength? Again, there isn't a ton of weight on this thing, but it is STILL going to be 4" out from the wall and attached through tile and plywood, so I'm nervous about this job. Thanks ya'll!