glenlloyd said:
Perforating the area above a door is dangerous unless you're sure that it's just a partition rather than a load bearing member.
Yes, but -- if you don't cut the framing members, then there is no structural risk. Using the following website for reference photos:
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/departments/building-skills/framing-a-rough-opening.aspx
If you look at the photo on page 4 of that article, you can see that even with a 2x8 header, there can still be a fair amount of open space between the framing members available for ventilation, if one desires.
I read a really interesting HUD publication about how structures really work vs. the conventional wisdom. There was a section on non-load bearing partition walls, where they point out that partition walls, from an engineering standpoint, are box beams -- they support themselves. So the fact that a wall has a wall above it does not necessarily mean that it's load bearing (even if the contractor doubled up the joists and put headers in the doors) -- it depends on the rest of the framing. If a wall has joists perpendicular to it, for instance, then it's load bearing, but that can be tricky to tell without opening the ceiling.
If there's any doubt about a stud, then don't cut it.