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I'm building an 8x12 shed which will have a couple 42x48 windows (future home office). I need four 37" lower studs under each window opening. I have a collection of 24" 2x4 cutoffs. Can I vertically connect a 24" + 13" 2x4 to act as a single 37" jack stud? I would only do this for the ones attached to the King stud, not the cripples.

Window framing will be similar to this picture. example wall framing

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    I know I don't understand your situation, but I'm struggling to understand why you even want to know. The cost of doing it the right way is probably $1.50-$2.00 per jack stud on what is at least a thousand dollar project. Will this structure ever be inspected? Do you ever plan to sell the property and someone else will come along and see it eventually? Even if the rest of the structure is perfect, seeing something like this would be a huge red flag. Of all the corners to cut, this one is a really small corner without a lot of payoff.
    – David
    Mar 23 at 13:57
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    It's... a yard shed. Let's not blow things out of proportion. I've been in many situations in life where a $1.50 stud just isn't available and I really need (or just want) to get the job done. It doesn't matter why.
    – isherwood
    Mar 23 at 18:12

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This is considered exceptionally poor framing, but if you absolutely have to, it'll probably hold up. (I worked on a cottage once that had been pretty much built entirely with scabbed together shorts. It took expensive repairs to bring up to standard, but it mostly survived.)

You might consider doubling up the cripples and staggering the joints.

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It's not standard, but it's fine in this case. Here's why I say that.

  • Your shed is small. It won't have massive roof or snow loads. (I've built several and owned them for 25 years in a snowy climate.)
  • Some framers run window sill plates through the trimmer studs routinely, as you've shown here. One more joint really doesn't change anything, assuming the trimmer stud segments are fit well and securely anchored to the king studs.
  • For such a small window opening you barely need a header anyway. The doubled top plate and the sheathing below are nearly adequate on their own.

Technically those are "trimmer" studs, not cripples (or "pins", as I prefer to call them--"cripple" carries derogatory connotations). They support the header.

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So long as it is a small shed, I don't think your structural integrity will be compromised too much.

But coming at it from another angle, it depends on what your sheathing is. If you are sheathing the shed in plywood, OSB, or something similarly rigid it is probably fine.

If you are sheathing it with steel, vinyl or something flexible I think it is a bad idea.

Source? I have been remodeling a house with steel sheathing where someone did just that when they put in new windows... Probably because it was easier/saved them 5 bucks. It left the wall flexible enough around the window that between the time they had installed the windows and when I got the house (about 3 years) the window seal had cracked and led to water damage around each of the windows. I had to replace several studs/insulation. And reinstall the windows correctly. Hours of extra work/money because someone saved $5 dollars on 2 pieces of wood.

One of the purposes of the kings, jacks, and header. Is to make the area around the window as stiff as the window is. So that when wind blows on the side of your house it flexes in a similar manner to the window. So that your window seal isn't overly stretched which can lead to leaks. For a shed this is not probably that big of a deal but, It's literally 5-10 bucks of extra wood... Don't be pennywise and pound foolish.

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Go for it, you'll be fine. Why?

  • It's a shed, not a house
  • They will still carry vertical load

I'd double them up and stagger the joints like this:

|---------------- 24" ----------------||----- 13" -----|
|----- 13" -----||---------------- 24" ----------------|
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