Members of the Canadian Steel Door Manufacturers Association (CSDMA) take pride in providing products that are correct and meet industry standards.
For those of us who have been in the Steel Door Industry for any length of time we have seen and dealt with a very long list of issues that can make an opening not function properly or appear incorrect. And almost always the issue inevitably ends up with the steel door manufacturer having to prove the door or frame is not defective.
Depending on the issue this process can be time consuming as information has to be collected from the jobsite through a 3rd party who sold and supplied the products. Once the information is available the steel door manufacturer will make a full review and this also will take time.
But every now and then there are issues where a steel door manufacturer can request a minimal amount of information from the jobsite and quickly prove the product is not the problem.
One of these issues is drywall frames having gaps at the corners and the soffit in the frame header is cupped/concaved. The logical explanation when the wall is steel stud and drywall construction the wall is causing the frame corners not to fit properly.
Drawings below are examples of steel stud installations with particular focus on the horizontal stud at the header and how it is fastened to the vertical studs where the corner of the drywall frame header will sit when it is installed.
In the “Not Recommended” drawing the horizontal stud is notched with flanges wrapping the outside of the vertical stud and is also screw fixed on both sides. This may not seem like much as steel studs are light gauge however, when you add the thickness of the screw on both sides the wall thickness can increase by up to ¼” after the drywall is installed.
The wall is now thicker than it should be and this will force the throat of the frame header to spread open which in turn causes the soffit to be cupped/concaved leaving a noticeable gap between the header and the jamb. With this information we now know the frame is not the issue, it’s the wall.
In the “Acceptable” drawing below this type of stud installation will not increase the wall thickness and will not have any effect on the frame when it is installed.
