I'm replacing the right jack and king stud due to termite damage. I lined up the jack stud on the window header. But, now I've noticed that the right hand side of the window is proud only about 1/4 in. (The left hand side is proud about 1/2 in., so there is room for drywall). How do I fix this? It was a pain getting the jack in as there is a joist running in front of it.
Problem Replacing Jack and King Stud on Window
framingwindows
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No, no and again NO. Not the way you suggest it, anyway.
This is an exterior wall. It is therefore a load bearing wall. Those two 2x4s (called jack studs) support the header over the window.
The weight of the rest of the house above the window is protected by the header, which in turn transfers the force to the two jack studs (as in they jack up the house) carry that weight to the underlying structure. If you remove one of the jack studs, too much force may be transferred to the other one, causing it to bow or even possibly fail. Either scenario translates to having weight of the wall above the house coming to rest on the window itself - and that is a BAD THING (TM).
If you wish to restructure for a larger opening properly, you must open the wall up further and relocate the king and jack studs, and install a longer (and possibly wider) header as well. Otherwise you can cause many tens of thousands of dollars of damage to your house.
Do not fiddle lightly with structure.
If it hasn't been a problem in the past, it won't be in the future. 50 years is a pretty good test.
I am also pretty sure that when the home was built the header was tight, but shrank when everything dried out over time. It happens in every wood framed house.
If you choose to, you can add a shim in the middle or in two places and snug it up in place, but that would at the most. I would think that the sheathing on the outside is helping to hold everything up, which in reality, isn't a whole lot of weight over that window as long as there is no snow load.
I would think the rafters are situated so that they are near the ends of the beam, not in the center so that minimized the use of the header.
Best Answer
If you fastened everything up already, be prepared to undo it. At least there is a presumption I am making that the old framing gave you the room you needed.
You may not need to undo everything, but I do see the common (outside) stud gone. The first thing is and this is a guess (that is, after you removed the damaged framing, you set the jack stud first, then the common stud last) on how you replaced the framing. The jack stud beside the window needs to be toe nailed into the bottom plate on the old marks left by the original jack. Making sure all the splinters, trash, old insulation is out of the way or will not move back behind the jack stud before it is set in place and secured. A lot of shaking goes on and things that are loose can go in places and keep things from going back in like they should. Nails from the old sheathing into the studs you removed are a good one for this. After all that is assured, finish nailing the jack to the header, insuring the face of the stud is flush with the original header. A little behind it is not a problem either, more room for drywall. Besides, the old framing you have may be 1 5/8" thick, instead of the 1 1/2" thick you have now.
As a footnote, check the wall with a straight edge to see which framing is out of line, creating the problem. Just a mention... it may help you understand a bit more of what is going on. If you used straight studs, good. If you used new framing that is bowed from the start, not good. Again, these things are to help you understand what you have, I can't do anything from here but make suggestions.
Once you have all the things done I mentioned above, and the jack stud is in place and the straight edge has confirmed everything to be flat and the jack stud should be showing hopefully the 1/2" you need for drywall, if so move on with adding the last stud and drywall.
If you are willing to undo even more nailing before you try the above fix, I see the header is slightly proud of the face of the stud beside it. If this means there is room behind the header this will help move the jack stud back when the header moves back also. I see perhaps an 1/8" of the 1/4" gone that you need. After thatr has worked hopefully, toenail the jack stud so it draws the jackstud back to expose the remaining window jamb you need and tighter still to the common stud.
This is also another presumption that the window, since so much has gone on around it that the window has not simply popped out of the rough opening a bit since the fastening has been violated by the replacing of the jack stud, meaning it only needs to be driven back in from the outside using a block of wood to protect the window from the direct hammer blows and refasten it in place so it doesn't pop out again.