I know this isn't exactly a woodworking question but I'm an optimist.

I want to put a door through a load bearing wall. It's in the back of a small closet and will open up about 230 square feet of storage over my garage.

Normally, I would remove a stud, put up a double 2x6 header and a couple of jack studs and thats what I would like to do here. The problem is the top plates. The builder (grrrr) put the splices between the top plates about 1.5" apart right over where I want to take out the stud.

let me elaborate: We have two top plates. If you have to use two pieces of material, you can do that but the joint should be over a stud and nowhere near the joint in the other top plate. In this case, they are over a stud but right together. To cover the error, the builder (grrrr) simple put in three studs instead of one.

Now, what's on top of the top plate. In this case, it's an upstairs closet wall that is supporting roof rafters. So our stud (ok, three studs) is supporting a rafter. In this case, it's supporting two rafters that are sistered together.

To my question: Can I remove the three studs, put in a double 2x6 header and a couple of jack studs? The rafter supports the roof and goes right through the peak of an intersecting roof. It's a pretty important rafter.