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I have been asked to build a Art studio using metal studs. Since this is my first metal stud project I was surprised that the architectural drawing showed no header. I always believed that a metal stud wall was non-bearing unless it had some form of a header. These drawings only show studs with a single channel. Do stud walls (exterior bearing ) typically use headers? What is the header usually composed of (i.e. box beam, i-beam, or misc…)?
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They almost always use a box header on bearing walls. Ask your engineer for a clarification, because these headers are often rather involved - internal laminations, or web stiffeners.
*When you build headers with metal you will build it with 2"xwhatever depth you need (2"x10" etc.) studs, then screw the flat sides together. Stuff some 1 1/2" foam board in the two studs. After that is done cap the sides of the header with some track of the appropriate size.
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You don't necessarily need a header to have a load bearing wall using steel studs. The metal top track takes the place of a top plate in conventional wood construction with headers being used over windows and doors just as in conventional frame construction. According to Residential Steel Framing Handbook by Robert Sharff there are several types of header designs such as doubled "C" channels with flanges in or with flanges out and with a header track underneath the "C" channels and a top track attached as the top of the header. Gussset plates and web stiffners may be required, depending on the design. Structural steel angle of an appropriate size may also be used as a header in some situations.
In the last few years, there have been a number of books written on residential framing with light gauge steel members. You may want to consider purchasing Scharff's book or Residential Steel Design and Construction : Energy Efficiency, Cost Savings, Code Compliance by Hacker and Gorges . You can get an idea of the contents and the prices of these two and another that is not yet published at Amazon.com:
List of residential steel framing books at Amazon.com . There are book sellers out there supposedly cheaper than Amazon, so you may want to do some searching on the Internet.
It appears that Amazon won't let me use the URL of the list of books I pulled up on their site, so when you get an error message from Amazon, click on "books" and then enter "steel framing" as search terms.
*Typically, the top track in a metal stud bearing wall has no span capability. A load path must be supported by either a stud or a header. You can obtain information from the American Iron & Steel Institute (800-79Steel, as I recall). For a charge, you can obtain their prescriptive methods manual, which contains span tables and header charts. It's somewhat limited in scope, so a structural engineer may have to be consulted.Dietrich manufactures all sorts of light-gauge steel products, including a "Trade-Ready" header. It's designed to slip over the top plate. It's like an inverted 'U' and the legs (normally only 1-1/4" or so) are extended for strength. Pretty slick, although I have a problem with the additional profile it gives the wall over your opening. It may finish fine -- I don't know.
*THi sis not a knock on you but you might want to consider bringing on a metal stud framer for this one job. Metal framing is quick and easy and can be picked up by anybody very quickly if you have one experienced framer on a crew. I did a stint as a commericial superintendent and we did all metal framing. I picked up a alot a stuff in one week including alot of shortcuts and time savers that I would never have figured out on my own. I now frame all interior walls out of metal.
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I have been asked to build a Art studio using metal studs. Since this is my first metal stud project I was surprised that the architectural drawing showed no header. I always believed that a metal stud wall was non-bearing unless it had some form of a header. These drawings only show studs with a single channel. Do stud walls (exterior bearing ) typically use headers? What is the header usually composed of (i.e. box beam, i-beam, or misc...)?