Cut-ins and new openings
Window and door cut-ins: the header decides the opening, not the unit
A new window or patio door in a wall that never had one is framing work first and a window job second. We establish what the wall is carrying, size the header, carry the load around the hole, flash the unit into the barrier and patch the cladding back so it reads as one wall.
- Three scopes
- New opening · Enlargement · Relocation
- Structure
- Header, jacks and load path sized for the wall, not the unit
- Approvals
- Permit work in every jurisdiction we serve; egress confirmed with the building department
- Dry-in
- Sill pan first, head flashing last, barrier lapped over the top
- Finish
- Cladding patched to read as one wall; interior scope stated line by line
Scope
Three jobs that all get called a cut-in, and why the name on the estimate matters
They share a method. They do not share a scope, and they are not priced the same.
People ask for a cut-in and mean one of three things. A new opening goes into a wall that is solid now: a window over a kitchen sink that has never had daylight, or a patio door where a blank dining-room wall faces the yard. An enlargement takes an opening that exists and makes it wider, taller or lower, usually because the room wants more glass or a bedroom needs a bigger escape route. A relocation closes an opening in one place and frames a new one somewhere else. That is two jobs on one wall.
A relocation carries the cost of rebuilding the old hole as wall, inside and out, on top of the new opening. An enlargement inherits whatever the old header was doing and usually has to replace it. A new opening in a solid wall is the cleanest of the three, provided the wall is not doing something the drawings never mentioned. Naming the job correctly on the first visit is how the estimate stays the estimate.
Structure
What a header does, and why a cut-in is structural work rather than a swap
A replacement window drops into a hole that already has a header over it. A cut-in has no such hole. Somebody has to cut studs, and every stud cut was carrying something, even if only the wall above it. The header is the piece that picks that load up and hands it sideways to the jack studs at each end, which carry it down through the plate and on to the foundation. Get the header right and the wall does not know the opening is there. Get it wrong and the first sign is a window that stops opening in its second winter.
Whether the wall is bearing changes how much the header has to do. A wall running under the ends of the joists or trusses above it is usually carrying a floor or a roof. A wall running parallel to them may be carrying only itself. That is the first thing we establish at the measure visit, from evidence rather than assumption: the direction of the framing in the attic or crawl space, what sits above the proposed opening on the floor above, where the ridge and any interior beams land, and whether the wall is part of the house's bracing against wind. We look inside the bay too. A waste stack or a duct in the middle of the proposed opening changes the schedule before it changes the price.
We do not size headers by habit or by what the neighbour's opening has. The size comes from the span, the load and the material, and where a span or a point load (the weight of a beam or post landing on one spot) falls outside what the published tables cover, an engineer sizes it and stamps it. The scope says which of those two it is before anything is ordered.
Approvals
Bedroom openings, egress and the permit every cut-in needs
Two things reliably shape an opening once the wall is picked.
The first is egress. A sleeping room needs an opening a person can get out through and a firefighter can get in through, and the requirements for that opening are set by the building code the jurisdiction has adopted, not by the window catalogue. Minimum clear opening, sill height, how the sash has to operate: all of it is confirmed with the building department for the address before the unit is specified, because a window that fits the hole can still fail the rule. We quote no dimensions here on purpose; the number that applies to your bedroom is the one that department applies.
The second is the permit. A cut-in alters the structure of the house, and that is permit work in every jurisdiction we serve. We file the application, and the inspection points are built into the programme rather than discovered halfway through it. Framing and dry-in are typically the stages an inspector wants to see before they are covered, which is one reason the drywall does not go back the same afternoon.
Envelope
Flashing the new unit into the barrier, and patching the cladding so it reads as one wall
This is where a window company earns its place on a framing job.
Once the rough opening is cut, the weather-resistive barrier around it is cut too, and how those flaps are handled decides whether the wall behind the new unit stays dry. The sequence is fixed. Sill pan first, with a back dam and turned-up ends, lapping out over the barrier below. The unit set plumb and square and shimmed where its manufacturer says. Jamb flashing over the flange, head flashing over that, and the barrier's head flap dropped over the head flashing last, so every lap sheds water outward. The bottom edge stays unsealed so the assembly can drain. Reverse any one lap and the wall is wet for a decade before anyone sees it.
Then the cladding goes back, and what it is decides how that looks. Vinyl unlocks and relocks by the course, so the mechanics are simple and the colour match is the problem. Fiber cement and engineered wood lap are cut back to framing so the new butt joints land where they can be flashed, staggered away from the old ones and sealed on the cut edges. Stucco is the hardest to hide, because lath has to tie to lath and texture is hand work. We install these products every week. That is why we can say on the measure visit whether the patch will disappear, whether it is better to pull matching material from a hidden elevation, or whether the honest answer is to reclad the elevation so the break lands at a corner.
The step-by-step version, header tables and bracing included, is written up under Products: how a window cut-in is framed, flashed and patched. This page is about what we do and how we scope it.
Inside, and the common case
What happens on the room side, and why the patio door is the usual cut-in
A new opening is a hole on the inside too, and the patio door is where most of them start.
The rough opening gets drywall returns or a wood jamb extension, the casing goes on to match what is already in the room, and there is a paint line where the new work meets the old. What we include is stated plainly on the scope. The returns, the casing and the priming of the new material are in, unless the estimate says otherwise. A full repaint of the wall, texture matching across an old-and-new join, and any flooring work where a door sill now sits are finishing trades: they are either priced as separate lines or listed as excluded.
The patio door is the cut-in we do most. A dining room or a bedroom that backs onto the yard has a window today and wants a sliding or hinged door tomorrow. It is an enlargement downward. The sill comes out, the wall below the old window is removed, the header is checked against the wider span, the new threshold sits on a pan that can drain, and the door itself is specified for the glass, the threshold and the hardware it will live with. The patio door lines we carry are on their own page. Here, the point is that the door and its opening are one scope with one crew, and the cladding patch below the old sill is priced in from the start.
When it grows
When the opening is one line in a bigger job
Some cut-ins are the whole project. Some are one line in a kitchen remodel, a room addition or a whole-house plan, and the moment the work reaches walls beyond the opening, the roof or the foundation, it belongs with a general building scope rather than a window scope. We do not sell that scope, and we would rather tell you so on the first call than price half of a job and leave you to find the other half.
Scope questions
What people ask before the saw comes out
Usually, and we do it on the measure visit rather than on the day. The direction of the joists or trusses above the wall, what lands on it from the floor above, where the ridge and any interior beams bear, and whether the wall is part of the bracing all point one way or the other, and we check them in the attic or crawl space rather than guessing from the room. When the evidence is ambiguous the scope says so and prices the opening as bearing, because a header sized for a bearing wall works in a non-bearing one and the reverse is not true.
It is a taller opening, not a different kind of job. The wall below the existing window comes out, the sill drops to the floor, and the header is checked against the wider span the door needs. What changes most is the outside: the cladding patch runs from the old sill to the ground, and the new threshold needs a pan and a drainage path that a window sill never did. It is the cut-in we do most often, which is why it is priced from a standard scope rather than from scratch.
We file the application with the building department that covers your address, and the inspections are written into the schedule. Framing and the flashing at the new opening are the stages an inspector typically wants to see before they are covered, so the drywall and the cladding patch wait for the sign-off. Requirements and fees are set by that department and differ between the jurisdictions we work in, so the scope states what applies to your property rather than a regional guess.
The rough opening is finished with drywall returns or a jamb extension, the casing is matched to what is in the room, and the new material is primed. That is in the scope unless the estimate says otherwise. Painting the whole wall, matching texture across the join, and any flooring where a new door sill now sits are finishing trades, and they appear either as separate priced lines or as stated exclusions. Nothing on the room side is left to be assumed.
Choosing the unit that goes in the new opening? Start with frames, styles and glass
Next step
Tell us which wall and we will tell you what it is carrying
Send the room, the wall and what you want in it. We measure on site, check the framing above and inside the bay, and put the header, the permit, the flashing detail, the cladding patch and the interior scope in writing before anything is cut. Bedroom egress is confirmed with the building department before the unit is specified.
Prefer to talk? The shop line is (775) 391-8487, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
- Bearing or non-bearing established at the measure visit, not on the day
- Permit and inspections written into the schedule
- The cladding patch method named, and the interior scope stated line by line
Request a free cut-in estimate
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We will call you back on the number you gave us to set a measure visit. If you would rather talk now, the shop line is (775) 391-8487, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.