Ten Rules for Framing - Fine Homebuilding

1 Guidelines for working efficientlyand knowing howgood is good enoughBY LARRY HAUNR ules for FramingHauling lumber fromplace to place is time-consuming and hard onyour body. Make it easieron yourself every chanceyou get, and start by hav-ing the folks at the lum-beryard do their sure lumber arriveson the truck stacked inthe order it will be don t want to movehundreds of wall studs toget to your plate stock,for instance. And floorjoists go on top of floorsheathing, not the other way around. When it s time for the delivery, unload the build-ing materials as close as possible to where they willbe used. Often lumber can be delivered on a boomtruck, so stacks of lumber can be placed right upon the deck or on a simple structure built flushalongside the the material is delivered, don t move it anymore than you need to. Cut studs, plywood, andanything else you can right on thestack. If you do have tomove wood, plan sothat you have to moveit only 2x4sright on the Framing on topWall Framing in middleRoofframing onbottomt was a coincidence that another con-tractor and I began Framing housesnext door to one another on the sameday.

2 But by the time his house wasframed, mine was shingled, wired, andplumbed. It was no coincidence that theother contractor ran out of money and had toturn the unfinished house over to the lendingcompany, while I sold mine for a profit. Both houses were structurally sound,plumb, level, and square, but every 2x4 in theother house was cut to perfection. Every jointlooked like finish carpentry. The other con-tractor was building furniture, and I wasframing a house. Unlike finish carpentry, Framing doesn thave to look perfect or satisfy your desire tofit together two pieces of wood you re building a house, an addi-tion, or a simple wall, the goals when fram-ing are strength, efficiency, and the building codes and the blue-prints should take care of the strength; effi-ciency and accuracy are trickier. But during50 years of Framing houses, I ve come up withthe following Rules to help me do good workquickly and with a minimum of effort. Larry Haun, author of The Very EfficientCarpenter(The Taunton Press, 1992) andHabitat for Humanity How to Build aHouse(The Taunton Press, 2002), hasbeen Framing houses for more than 50years.

3 He lives in Coos Bay, t move materials any more than you have to174 fine HOMEBUILDINGD rawings: Christopher ClappCutting the mudsill up to 1 4in. short (not long) is joist cut to exact length (within 1 16in.)Cut top plateto top platecan be up to 1 (not long).No morethan 1 of plumb in 8 your best lumber where it counts3 These days, if you cull everybowed or crooked stud, youmay need to own a lumbermill to get enough wood toframe a house. How do youmake the most of the lumberthat you get?Use the straightest stockwhere it s absolutely neces-sary: where it s going tomake problems for you lateron if it s not straight. Walls,especially in baths andkitchens, need to be s not easy to install cabi-nets or tile on a wall thatbows in and out. Andstraight stock is necessaryat corners and roughopenings for doors. The two top wallplates need to bestraight as well, but thebottom plate doesn can bend it right to thechalkline and nail it home. Ifyou save your straight stockfor the top plates, you ll havean easy time aligning thewalls.

4 And every projectneeds lots of short stock forblocking; take your bowedmaterial and cut it into crip-ples, headers, and 200375In other words, know your tolerances. Rafters don thave to fit like the parts of a cabinet. Nothing inframe carpentry is perfect, so the question is:What s acceptable?You do need to get started right, and that meansthe mudsills. Whether they re going on a founda-tion or on a slab, they need to be level, straight,parallel, and square. But there s no harm done ifthey re cut 1 4in. short. A rim joist, on the otherhand, needs to be cut to the right length (within 1 16in.) before being nailed to the mudsill. When it comes to wall Framing , the bottom platealso can be 1 4in. or so short, but the top plateneeds to be cut to exact length (again within 1 16in.)because it establishes the building s dimension atthe top of the walls. But the plate that sits on topof that, the cap or double plate, should be cut 1 so that intersecting walls tie together easily.

5 Once you ve raised the walls, how plumb orstraight is good enough? In my opinion, 1 4in. out ofplumb in 8 ft. is acceptable, and a 1 4-in. bow in a 50-ft. wall won t cause harm to the structure orproblems for subcontractors. Take special care byframing as accurately as possible in the kitchensand in the bathrooms. These rooms require moreattention partly because of their tighter tolerances,but also because the work of so many trades comestogether here. Build a house,not furniture276 fine HOMEBUILDINGWork in a logical order4 Establish an efficient routinefor each phase of work, do itthe same way every time,and tackle each phase in itslogical order. In the long run,having standard procedureswill save time and minimizemistakes. Let s take wallframing as an I snap all of the layoutlines on the floor; then I cutthe top and bottom platesand tack all of them inplace on the lines. NextI lay out the plates, de-tailing the location of everywindow, door, stud, and in-tersecting wall.

6 I pry up the top plate andmove it about 8 ft. away fromthe bottom plate, which Ileave tacked to thedeck. I scatter studsevery 16 in. for thelength of the wall. Inail the top plate tothe studs and keep thebottom of the studs snugagainst the bottom helps to keep the wallsquare, straight, and in posi-tion to be raised. I try to es-tablish a rhythm and workconsistently from one end tothe other. Once the top plateis completely nailed, I pry upthe bottom plate and repeatthe process on the s worth saying that I didn tjust make up these steps;they evolved over time. Rec-ognizing inefficiency is an im-portant part of Tack top and bottom plates in Detail plates for studs,doors, windows, and intersecting Pry up top plate. Bottom plate Scatter studs every 16 the length of wall. nail studs to top Snap wall Xs indicate king studs, and doublelines indicate cripples; the straighthorizontal line indicates the Pry up bottom plate and nail to 200377 The best way to save time when you re Framing ahouse is by keeping your tape measure, your pen-cil, and your square in your nail pouch as much aspossible.

7 I have to use a tape measure to lay outthe wall lines accurately on the deck, but after that,I cut all of the wall plates to length by cutting tothe snapped wall lines. I position the plate on theline, eyeball it, and then make the cuts at the inter-secting time-saver is to make square crosscuts on2x4s or 2x6s without using a square. Experiencehas shown me that with a little practice, anyone canmake these square cuts by aligning the leadingedge of the saw s base , which is perpendicular tothe blade, with the far side of the lumber beforemaking the cut. Keep the othertrades in mind5 Don t measure unless you have to6If you want to waste timeand money when Framing ,don t think about the electri-cal work, the plumbing, theheat ducts, the drywall, orthe finish carpentry. Whetheryou do them yourself or hiresubcontractors, these tradescome next. And unless you reworking with them in mindevery step of the way, yourframing can be in the way. For example, when you nailon the double top plate,keep the nails located overthe studs.

8 This tip leaves thearea between the studs freefor the electrician or plumberto drill holes without hittingyour practice,you can makesquare cuts byaligning thefront edge of thesaw s base withthe far edge ofthe 1 a board s lengthshouldn t require (lengthwise cuts) longerpieces also can be done by eye if you usethe edge of the saw s base as a guide. Trainyour eye. It ll save time cutting, and as you develop,you ll also be able to straighten walls as easily byeye as with a string. Alter joist layout to accommodate tub the lavatory, center theopen area between studs forthe medicine blocking fortowel bars and allwall nailing the double topplate together, align the nailswith the backingfor installing extrawidetrim, include blocking forelectrical studsbehind tub formixing don t need a mathematician toknow that it takes less time to cut twoboards at once than it does to cuteach one individually. If you have a stack of studs that allneed to be cut to the same length,align one end of the top row, snap achalkline all the way across, and cutthe studs to length right on the you can spread them out on thefloor, shoving one end against thefloor plate, snap a chalkline, and cutthem all at once.

9 Joists can be cut to length in asimilar way by spreading them outacross the foundation andshoving one end up againstthe rim joist on the farside. Mark them toMy first Framing job was with a crew that would layout, frame, and raise one wall at a time before movingon to the next. Sometimes they would even straightenand brace the one wall before proceeding. We wasteda lot of time constantly switching gears. If you re installing joists, roll them all into place andnail them before sheathing the floor. Snap all layoutlines on the floor before cutting any wall plates, thencut every wall plate in the house before Framing . Ifyou re cutting studs or headers and cripples, make acutlist for the entire project and cut them all at all the intersecting walls together before startingto straighten and brace the walls. Finishing before moving on is just as important whenit comes to nailing and blocking. You might betempted to skip these small jobs and do them later,but don t. Close out each part of the job as well as youcan before moving on to the next.

10 Working in this wayhelps to maintain momentum, and it prevents tasksfrom being forgotten or HOMEBUILDINGF inish one task before going on to the next7 Cut multiples whenever possible8length, snap a line, and cut the joistsall at once. Also, don t forget to make repetitivecuts with a radial-arm or chop/mitersaw outfitted with a stop block, whichis more accurate and faster thanmeasuring and marking oneboard at a time. First, spread studson the plywood floorwith one end againstthe floor plate. Then mark them andcut along the 200379I don t use a ladder much on a Framing jobexcept to get to the second floor beforestairs are built. Walls can be sheathed andnailed while they re lying flat on thedeck. Waiting until the walls areraised to nail on plywoodsheathing means you haveto work from aladder or a are time-consuming. With a little foresight, youcan do the rafter layout on adouble top plate while it s still onthe floor. Otherwise, you ll have tomove the ladder around the job or climbon the walls to mark the top codes exist to createsafe structures.