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enter image description hereI'm currently building a house using Ryan Homes and I was told that the Gap between headers and walls is acceptable (no problem if a few inches of the connecting nail is visible) or the builder is just being lazy.

Is there any code I can refer to if he keeps saying that it's safe?

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    Does not look like a structural member, so at best a sign of bad workmanship, than bad code. You are paying for it, but will depend if you want something used for backing for drywall/wall covering to be perfect. Would keep an eye out for other lapses in measurements.
    – crip659
    May 19 at 20:12
  • Is there a warranty for drywall cracks? If there is, I'd let it go, but this is only a comment not an answer.
    – Platinum Goose
    May 19 at 20:21

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Are you talking about this circled bit?

annotated version of original image

If so, this looks fine. It's just used as nailing surface for drywall -- it's not structure. It kind of looks like someone made the bottom of it a bit short, and then built that end piece to make up for it. Worse is they made it not quite wide enough, but again, it's just a nailing surface.

Being generous, maybe that's made from leftover wood, so they were actually saving you money by not paying for another full length piece of lumber plus paying to throw out the scrap, just to prevent an irrelevant <1" gap.

A "header" is the part above a door or window (and important to get right because it does support structure and weight), but I don't see an issue with that.

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  • Thank you for responding. Yes, I was referring to the red circle. They have the drywall up now, but even though there is a few inches gap, I should be fine as far as holding the load?
    – Quf
    May 19 at 21:30
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    Only load it is holding is the drywall, so think it is quite capable.
    – crip659
    May 19 at 22:39
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    @Quf if you were to have removed that circled piece, and the horizontal framing between it and the wall with the door, then only thing that would impact in your house would be to leave the HVAC duct hanging free. Those pieces have no impact whatsoever on the structural integrity of the house, they simply frame in a soffit to hide the duct work. Even the round electrical box in the ceiling could have simply been raised if the soffit weren't there.
    – FreeMan
    May 20 at 11:58
  • Um, a builder the size of RH isn’t saving the client any money by using scraps and poor cutting. But as noted by others, this isn’t structural and at worst will lead to drywall cracks down the road.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    May 21 at 3:47

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