Cut Diagonal Brace for Window?

[ben1000]

I finally started building on my workshop in the back of an existing garage and plan to add a window to the back wall to let in some light. There's a diagonal 'let-in' brace in the way though and I haven't been able to find info on how to properly reinforce the area after the brace is cut.

If this were new construction then one option would be OSB sheathing, but there's no practical way to do this in this scenario without re-siding the whole garage. I'll be insulating & dry-walling also, so I can't really add OSB on the inside either.

This will also be heated/cooled so as a result I've had to pull a permit and it'll be inspected. I made the mistake of casually asking the permit office how this is usually handled and they said it can't be cut. Obviously if this were true you could never have a window on the corner of any older house, so I think they we're just being overly cautious or I didn't explain it well. What the actual inspector thinks on-site is the only thing that matters - so I can't tell if they're either going to have a similar cautious viewpoint or perhaps think nothing of it. I can do whatever needs to be done, but don't want to do things 2/3/4 times as opinions change.

Any ideas/examples of how this is done the right way?

 

[joe--h]

Is that a load bearing wall? What's the roof look like above there?
If you sheath the inside with OSB or plywood you can eliminate the brace. Paint it or DW over it.
What did you get a permit for? Framing or just the HVAC?

 

[Mark118]

For a 6' window opening, it seems that if you doubled the adjacent studs, with a header framed above & below (with temporary support during construction) that should do it. You could also put in some 45s while you have it open. Can't say what rule that would not conform with; your local regs are the wildcard.

 

[ben1000]

Is that a load bearing wall? What's the roof look like above there?
If you sheath the inside with OSB or plywood you can eliminate the brace. Paint it or DW over it.
What did you get a permit for? Framing or just the HVAC?

Load-bearing, it's the back exterior wall with a really odd truss roof (think pizza hut) above it.

Inside sheathing might be where this goes, but I'm an amateur with the whole inspection process and I'm trying to keep things simple - adding inside sheathing raises more questions. (i.e. can in insulate before calling for framing inspection since i won't be able to insulate later)

Permit covers framing, electrical, HVAC; and really the HVAC prompted all three since otherwise it's under the cost/complexity threshold that requires permitting. (plus they really want to know about heated sqaure footage for tax reasons)

For a 6' window opening, it seems that if you doubled the adjacent studs, with a header framed above & below (with temporary support during construction) that should do it. You could also put in some 45s while you have it open. Can't say what rule that would not conform with; your local regs are the wildcard.

That's the plan from a supporting-the-weight-above-the-window point of view. I think the brace is there to keep the wall from racking though, so it's not clear whether the normal window framing stuff also replaces the diagonals brace when a window is in a corner like this.