I am trying to frame an archway in the opening between my living room and dining room (new construction). The archway will be 5 feet wide and around 80 inches high in a normal 8' 2x4 interior wall.

I have been kicking around the idea of Kurf cutting a 2x4 and bending it to fit my intended elliptical opening shape then simply add cripples above it like a normal door opening. I will have king studs on both sides and on one side the opening will be less than 12 inches from a corner so that side will be strong. The other side is on a wall thats over 16' long.

The wall has double top plates, a bottom plate and normal 92-5/8 studs on 24" centers.

The entranceway will be a simple opening in a non-load bearing interior wall. The wall covering will be drywall.

The Kerf cut looks to be 1/3 way through the 2x4 or 1" deep. By what I've read it might help to soak the wood in water for awhile before bending. This 2x4 will be act as the header for the doorway.

Would this idea work?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Your idea might work, but there is a very much easier way. Try "Google" for "prefabricated arches" and you will likely find a few manufacturers of prefabricated metal arches in the configuration you want. All you do, basically, is nail them up and finish them like a corner bead, and you will have near perfection, which may not be possible with your kerfed 2x4 method.

You could check out this thread as well. Might give you some more ideas
http://www.contractortalk.com/showthread.php?t=7519

We've did several of them in the past few years and all we did was run 2x4's the depth of the arch, spaced with only an inch between each one. We then did one of two things - take a sheet of sheetrock and cut it to the correct size and soak it in water, then form it in the arch. Obviously you have to let it dry out before doing any finishing on it. But it surprisingly maintains it durability after it dries. The other way is the easiest and that is to buy a 1/4" thick sheetrock that is made just for this. It is very flexible and can easily be molded to your arch. Both ways have worked and turned out beautifully. Obut obviously the second method would be the most preferred.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: JayinMinnesota,

Thanks guys for all the replies and suggestions. Jay those are beautiful examples but they make my humble little project look rinky-dinky indeed.

Thinking about my idea today makes me afraid I will be unable to keep the 2x4 wall straight enough. I am afraid the notched 2x4 with only cripples above it will bow.

My upgraded idea would be to first frame a square opening then add the archway. My idea for the square opening would be to use like a single 2x10 header (centered) and a 2x4 flat header, king studs and trimmers like normal. I can keep this straight. Notch and bend the 2x4 archway and attach it to my side trimmers and the 2x4 thats nailed to my 2x10 header, then add straight 2x4 along the sides. To brace the bent 2x4 simply fit 2x4 cross braces (gussets) that attach to the header, trimmers, and the bent 2x4. I should be able to keep this straight also.

I think it will be fairly difficult to achieve an accurate shape and I though about making a temporary mold out of some scrap 3/4" plywood I have on hand.

Does this sound like a better idea?

I agree with that the prefabricated arches are by far easier and better than what I can probably build but I would still much like to do this myself if I possibly can. I guess when I fail I will order the prefab unit. I hope you guys understand why I want to try to do this myself.

Sounds like you're doing exactly what we did on our house when we built it a couple of years ago.

I watched the framers create the arch as follows:

• cut OSB sheathing in shape of arch
  
• put 2x2 or 2x4 spacers in the bottom of the arch spaced every couple of inches to provide stability to the bottom side of the arch.
• attache OSB arch to bottom of 2x4 wall using cleats, so that OSB is flush with outside of 2x4 wall.
• Apply drywall, cut to shape and finish.

Hope this helps a little

Update:

I tried bending a couple 2x4s and even a 1x4 without success. I even tried soaking them in water first. All broke during bending at knots in the wood.

I then did as you posted above using 3/4" OSB panels and short 2x4 spacers. Came out very well and was easy to make.