How to properly frame an exterior wall with doors and windows in it
Framing a house part 2
In part one; I explained how to properly frame an exterior stud wall that had no doors and windows in it. In part two; I will explain how to frame that same stud wall when you have to account for doors and windows. To properly understand the basics and the terminology it is recommended that you read part 1 (posted 1/3/14) first to understand some of the things I will be talking about in part 2.
You need to start by taking your bottom and upper plates and cutting them to the appropriate length, then turn them on their edges and place them together just like you did when framing a simple wall. Once you have the plates together and lined up you can start the layout process for the wall.
To properly layout a wall that has windows and doors in it you need to start by laying out where in the wall the windows and doors will go. To do this you will need to get all your measurements from the house plans.
When reading house plans to discover where the doors and windows are to go you need to check several
locations:
1. The floor layout, it will be a top down view of the floor that you will be framing. This view will show you where in the wall the doors and windows will be located.
2. The elevations. The elevations are the picture of the house from the outside. Turn to the view that shows the side that has the wall that you want to frame. You need to measure the height of the windows off the floor. This is important, this is the only way for you to discover at what height your windows will be placed at.
3. Turn to the window and door schedule. This will tell you the size and shape of the windows and doors that are to be installed in your wall.
Once you have the measurements you will need to add between 1 and 1.5 inches to each measurement, this will allow you to properly level, shim and insulate the window at a later date.
Back to the laying out of the wall plates;
Start from one end and measure out the distance to wear the centre of each window and door will go. Make a centre mark and if it helps you can write window or door there to remind you. From the centre mark go an equal distance each way so that you have the edges of the windows and doors marked with the extra 1.5 inches included. Take your framing square and mark these with a straight line. A framing square has one side that is exactly the width of a stud 1.5 inches. From your window/door mark place the 1.5 inch end of the framing square on that line so that it is on the side of the line that is not in the window, draw a line on the opposite side of the framing square. To make this simpler let’s say that you started on the left side of the window/ door mark, you would be moving the framing square from that mark 1.5 inches to the left to draw your second line. You now have two lines that are exactly 1.5 inches apart and are parallel to each other. Move the framing square over again to your left 1.5 inches, line up the right side on the previous line and draw another line. You will now have three parallel lines exactly 1.5 inches apart on the left side of the window.
In the space between the two parallel lines next to the window draw a J, in the second space between the parallel lines draw an X. The j stands for jack and the X represents your stud. Some people call the Jack stud a slip stud.
You must mark a J and an X on both sides of the window/door openings. Every window and door gets this; mark sure the mark is on both plates and that they line up.
When laying out window and door locations remember to always measure from the same end of the plates, this will help make sure that no mistakes are made.
Now that you have your window and door locations you need to do your stud layout. Remember to start at one end and layout the studs at 16 inches on their centres. As you are laying out the studs you will mark the studs on their centres even through where the window opening will be, this is important later for your sheeting. The only place that you do not place a layout mark is where your doors will be placed. Leave that space unmarked.
Now that you have your studs marked out place your plates on the floor, place them on their edges parallel to each other with enough space so that the studs can be placed between them.
Before you start placing the studs between the plates you need to first cut and assemble your window and door edges.
For every J that you have on your plates you are going to have to cut a stud down to make the jack. Cut your jack to the height of your door; remember that there is a bottom plate so you will have to deduct the 1.5 inches off the overall height. Once you have the jacks cut for each side of your doors you then place them at each j and only nail the stud to the bottom plate.
For the windows you need to cut studs down to make your jacks, the jack height will be the height of your window plus the distance that the window will sit off the floor. Remember to deduct the 1.5 inches for the bottom plate. Place those jacks on each side of the window.
Now that the jacks are all in place you can go ahead and nail all your studs in their positions. When you come to the side of the windows and doors there will be that X that you place right beside the J. Place a stud there, nail it to the plates and then nail the Jack to the stud. Make sure that edges of the studs and the jacks line up, remember the jack is going to be shorter and that the jack starts at the bottom plate but should never reach the top plate.
When placing and nailing the studs do not place any studs in the window openings even though you marked studs there, those marks are for something else.
Take a 2x6 and cut it the width of your window opening plus 3 inches. Then nail this piece of wood on top of the jacks, if you measured properly it should run from one stud to the opposite stud across the opening for the window covering the top of the jacks. You nail this piece to the top of the jacks.
Now that you have the studs installed you need to install the headers for the windows and doors. The headers are pieces of wood installed above the windows and doors so that the weight of the roof or the floor above does not crush the opening.
To find out what size of header you will require for each window/door opening you will have to look at the house plans again, look for the header schedule, it will tell you the size and bearing that is required for the openings. To keep things simple let’s say that all the openings require 2 pieces of 2x8 above them and the bearing is only 1.5 inches per side.
Since you have the sizes of windows and door openings you framed then all you have to do is add the 1.5 inches of bearing per side. That equals out to 3 total inches longer then the width of the openings you just framed. Cut 2 pieces of 2x8 material to the proper length and then nail them together so that they make one piece of wood that is 3 inches thick. Make sure that the pieces of wood line up on all sides before you nail them together. You have just constructed your first header.
The header is to be placed at the top of the window/door opening right on top of the horizontal piece of 2x6 you already installed. The header will sit on top of the 2x6 and will transfer its load onto the jack posts and if you cut it properly then it will fit perfectly between the studs that the jacks are nailed too. Because the header is only on 3 inches deep and your wall is 5.5 inches deep you need to nail the header in place so that it is flush with the face of the wall, that means it cannot be left on the deck and nailed. If you don’t nail it flush with the face of the wall there will be an un-insulated space in the wall that will allow cold to penetrate the home.
Once you have installed all the headers you need to finish off the framing around them. You marked the 16 inch stud centres on the upper and bottom plates, now you need to cut pieces to fit between the upper plate and the header on these marks. If you do it properly then when the sheeting is installed the ends will always end on the middle of a stud.
At the bottom of the windows you need to add the framing, measure down from the top of the framing of the window opening and make a mark where the bottom of the window will begin. Below that mark install a 2x6 horizontally from one jack to the other. This will be the actual piece of wood that your window will sit on.
Once that piece is nailed then you add in filler pieces at the 16 centre marks all the way across between this piece and the bottom plate, this is to catch your sheeting.
You have now finished the framing of the wall and can install your sheeting overtop of it. Remember to square the wall before installing it. Once you have the sheeting installed and nailed you need to cut out the windows and doors before installing the house wrap on top of the sheeting. Cut the sheeting out so that it is flush with the window/door frame. Depending on how many doors or windows are in your framed wall you sometimes will want to leave the sheeting covering a door. That is because the door creates a hinge point in the framed wall. Leaving the sheeting covering the door opening gives more support for the wall will insuring the wall will stay straight when the wind blows. You can always cut out the sheeting later once the roof is installed and the intersecting walls are framed.
Install your house wrap the same way you would if there were no walls or doors in the wall. Stretch the house wrap right over the holes, stapling it all around the window opening.
Once you have stood the wall up and have it properly supported then you can cut the house wrap out of the windows and doors. When you cut it out leave enough so that you can pull the house wrap in and around the window opening, this will help hold the house wrap from being ripped off by the wind.
Now you have framed an exterior wall with windows and doors.
Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.
Showing posts with label framing custom homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label framing custom homes. Show all posts
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Friday, January 3, 2014
Framing an exterior wall in your home (no windows or doors)
How to properly frame an exterior wall (simple wall framing)
How to frame a house- part 1.
First things first you will need a proper set of house plans to work off. Most wall heights are a standard 8 or 9 feet but sometimes custom homes are 10 feet high. To explain how to frame an exterior wall I will work with either 8 ft or 9 ft walls to help keep it simple to start.
For an 8 ft or 9ft wall you will need lumber, exterior walls are made out of 2x6 spruce. You should buy pre-cut studs; they are studs that are already cut so that when you add your bottom and top plates they equal out to the correct height. Non pre-cut studs come either 8 or 9 feet long and to use them you would have to cut every stud shorter to fit the correct height.
From your house plans pick the wall that you want to frame. To make things simple start with a wall that will run from one corner to another corner, also the wall should be small enough that you and y I am about to explain does not have any windows or doors in it to make things as simple as possible.
When you are measuring the wall do not take the measurements off the plan, you need to measure the actual section where the wall is going to be built, it’s not uncommon for the foundation to be slightly different then the plans, this will affect how all your walls come together and how tight the fit and finish of your framing will be. When framing the walls remember that your framed walls will overlap when the corners of each wall come together. This means that if you are building a wall that goes from one corner to another and it is the first wall you are building that you should measure from the edge of your floor (where the corner would start) to the other edge (the next corner), this is the simplest way to do it. This way at one end of the framed wall it will have a framed wall that will butt into it and on the other end the next wall will overlap the end.
Take two pieces of lumber (2x6) preferably long enough to make the entire distance of your wall measurement and turn them on their edge so the 1.5” edge is looking at you. Lay them either on the ground or on a table and put them together back to back. Make sure the ends of the two pieces of lumber are lined up together.
Next you lay out your wall.
Since you have chosen a wall without any windows or doors then it makes the layout simple. Start at one end of the two pieces of lumber (we call these wall plates), place your framing square at the end and then measure in 1.5”s and draw a straight line across the upturned edge of the 2x6. Then in the space between the end of the plate and the line that you just drew you mark place an X there, the reason that the plates are together is so that you can draw the identical thing on both pieces of lumber at the same time. This will be your first stud location.
Hook your tape on the end of the plate and measure out until you get to the 16” mark. This will be the location of your next stud, do not put a mark at 16”s, you need the middle of the stud to end up at the 16” mark. Studs are 1.5”s wide on their edge, so draw a mark at 15 ¼”s. With your framing square draw a straight line across both plates, on the side of the line that the 16” fell on you now draw an X. This is your second stud location.
You continue this all the wall across your plates making marks for studs every 16”s and remember you want your mark to be 3/4s of an inch back from the 16 inch centre. That means that you will make a mark at 15 ¼, 31 ¼, 47 ¼, 63 ¼ and on until you reach the end of the plates.
Once you do reach the end of the plate you must add an X at the end like you did at the start, this will be your last stud location.
Now that you have your wall laid out you place one plate near where the wall will be built and the other plate either 8 or 9 feet away from it, paralleling the first plate. The plate nearest where your wall is to go is called the bottom plate; the plate near the top is the upper plate. Mark sure that the plates are turned up on their edge the same way that you laid them out and also make sure that both plates are running the same way as when you laid them out.
Now place your pre-cut studs between the two plates, so that they run from one plate to the other and also make sure that they are placed on their edge like your plates. As you are placing your pre-cut studs between the two plates you must make sure that the crown in the studs are all facing the same way, usually you face the crown up.
What is a crown you ask and how do you determine which way it goes?
Pick up your stud by the end; turn it on its edge leaving one end on the floor. Then put your eye so that you can look down the entire length of the stud, you will see that the stud actually has a slight bend to it going one way or the other. You must make sure that if it bends up then that is how it is place on the floor between your two plates, every other stud should be placed the same way with the bend up.
Place one stud between the plates for every X you drew on the plates. If you laid out your wall properly then the studs should line up straight from one plate to the next.
Start at one end of the plates and nail each stud to the plate, you must put at least two 3 ¼” nails through the plate into the end of the stud. Make sure that the stud when it is nailed is tight to your plate and that one edge of the plate lines up with the line you drew and the rest of the plate is under the X that you drew. Nail the ends of studs to the plates so that both plates are now attached to the same studs.
Once all the studs are nailed then you must maneuver the new wall over to the exact location that you want it to go. The only thing you need to know is that you need to place the edge of the bottom plate 5 and a 1/2 “s in from the edge of your floor. To help you place the wall where it is suppose to go chalk a line at the 5 ½” mark across the length of where your wall is suppose to go. With this chalk line you then place the edge of the bottom plate at that line. Toe-nail that plate with some hand nails to hold it there, you must toe-nail on the inside of the wall, if they aren’t then when you stand up your wall the nails will interfere with the placement and cause problems later.
Now that you have the bottom plate secured to the floor you will need to square the wall up. To square the wall you need to measure from one corner to the opposite corner of the wall. That means that if you start at the bottom plate on the left side of the wall then you need to measure to the upper plate on the right side, you then measure from the bottom plate on the right side to the top plate on the left side. You must adjust the wall back and forth at the upper plate until both of these measurements are equal. When these two measurements are equal then the wall is square. Toe-nail a couple of hand nails into the upper plate so that the upper plate is attached to the floor, this will keep the wall square and in place until you are ready to stand it up. Make sure that these nails are placed on the outside of the wall so that you can remove them to stand the wall once the sheeting has been installed.
Starting at the upper plate you will need to place your OSB sheeting on the wall, the sheeting should be placed so that it runs length ways from left to right. Starting at the first stud that you installed on the left side of the wall you line the edge of the sheeting up with the left side edge of the stud. The top edge can be lined up with the top edge of the upper plate. Once the sheeting is lined up if you squared your wall correctly the left and upper edge of the sheeting will line up with the edge of your framing and if the studs are in the correct place then the end of the 8 foot sheet will fall in the middle of a stud. Nail this sheet with a minimum of 2 ¼ inch nails every 6 to 8 inches on every stud and on the plates.
The sheeting that you are installing on the wall is usually 8 feet by 4 feet, since you are installing the sheets horizontally then you are going to need at least 2 rows of sheeting, you may need more depending on the height of your wall. When you start the next row of sheeting you need to cut the first sheet in half before you install it. This makes the sheet 4 feet by 4 feet and will stagger the joints in the sheeting from the row above. Staggering the sheeting is a way to make the wall stronger by not lining all the joints up on one stud.
Cover the entire wall with the sheeting and nail it as informed above. You want to make sure that the sheeting does not stick past the end of the wall on the right. You also want to make sure that the sheeting does not hang below the wall at the bottom; if it does it will interfere with you standing up the wall. If the sheeting is a couple inches short on the bottom don’t bother filling the small gap yet, you can fill it and overlap the rim joist below later when the wall is standing. This will add some strength to the wall instead of having a little strip at the bottom.
There is one more thing that you need to do to the wall before you stand it up, you need to apply the house wrap on top of the sheeting. Install the house wrap on the sheeting by rolling it out over the wall and stapling it every 4 to 6 inches when it is smooth and taunt without any wrinkles or folds. Make sure to cover the entire wall but don’t let it hang down at the bottom or it will interfere with standing the wall up. You can leave it long on the top or on the ends because the house wrap is very easy to trim back later while you are framing the remaining walls of the house.
You are now ready to stand the wall up, pull the toe-nails out of the upper plate that you installed; you do not have to worry about the toe-nails in the bottom plate, besides since you installed them on the inner side of the plate and covered them with the sheeting you will have no access to them. They will act as an anchor as you stand the wall up, so it’s best to leave them there.
The rule of thumb is that every person can lift 4 to 6 feet of exterior wall depending on how high the wall is that you constructed. Grab the upper plate and lift together all as one so that the wall doesn’t twist or rack. As you lift the wall up over your head you will have to walk forward with your arms over your head, do this while still holding on to the studs. The wall will rise up fairly easily, once you have the wall vertical make sure that at least two people are holding on to the wall while someone else attaches long bracing to the studs of the wall. Nail the bracing first to the stud as high up on the wall as you can reach, once you have the bracing in place you must level the wall before attaching the bracing to the floor. Make sure that you attach a brace every 6 to 8 feet depending how high the wall is and how windy the location that you are working on can get.
You have now constructed your first wall, if you measure the wall you will notice that it is 1 ½ inches shorter than it should be, this is because you need to install another 2 x 6 to the top of the wall on top of the upper plate. This is called the top plate; it is installed after you have other adjoining walls standing. This top plate must overlap on to the next wall, this will help keep the wall from flexing and add overall strength and straightness to it.
This is the first part in a series of blog posts on how to frame houses properly. In my next post in this particular series I will explain how to frame an exterior wall that has windows and doors.
Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.
How to frame a house- part 1.
First things first you will need a proper set of house plans to work off. Most wall heights are a standard 8 or 9 feet but sometimes custom homes are 10 feet high. To explain how to frame an exterior wall I will work with either 8 ft or 9 ft walls to help keep it simple to start.
For an 8 ft or 9ft wall you will need lumber, exterior walls are made out of 2x6 spruce. You should buy pre-cut studs; they are studs that are already cut so that when you add your bottom and top plates they equal out to the correct height. Non pre-cut studs come either 8 or 9 feet long and to use them you would have to cut every stud shorter to fit the correct height.
From your house plans pick the wall that you want to frame. To make things simple start with a wall that will run from one corner to another corner, also the wall should be small enough that you and y I am about to explain does not have any windows or doors in it to make things as simple as possible.
When you are measuring the wall do not take the measurements off the plan, you need to measure the actual section where the wall is going to be built, it’s not uncommon for the foundation to be slightly different then the plans, this will affect how all your walls come together and how tight the fit and finish of your framing will be. When framing the walls remember that your framed walls will overlap when the corners of each wall come together. This means that if you are building a wall that goes from one corner to another and it is the first wall you are building that you should measure from the edge of your floor (where the corner would start) to the other edge (the next corner), this is the simplest way to do it. This way at one end of the framed wall it will have a framed wall that will butt into it and on the other end the next wall will overlap the end.
Take two pieces of lumber (2x6) preferably long enough to make the entire distance of your wall measurement and turn them on their edge so the 1.5” edge is looking at you. Lay them either on the ground or on a table and put them together back to back. Make sure the ends of the two pieces of lumber are lined up together.
Next you lay out your wall.
Since you have chosen a wall without any windows or doors then it makes the layout simple. Start at one end of the two pieces of lumber (we call these wall plates), place your framing square at the end and then measure in 1.5”s and draw a straight line across the upturned edge of the 2x6. Then in the space between the end of the plate and the line that you just drew you mark place an X there, the reason that the plates are together is so that you can draw the identical thing on both pieces of lumber at the same time. This will be your first stud location.
Hook your tape on the end of the plate and measure out until you get to the 16” mark. This will be the location of your next stud, do not put a mark at 16”s, you need the middle of the stud to end up at the 16” mark. Studs are 1.5”s wide on their edge, so draw a mark at 15 ¼”s. With your framing square draw a straight line across both plates, on the side of the line that the 16” fell on you now draw an X. This is your second stud location.
You continue this all the wall across your plates making marks for studs every 16”s and remember you want your mark to be 3/4s of an inch back from the 16 inch centre. That means that you will make a mark at 15 ¼, 31 ¼, 47 ¼, 63 ¼ and on until you reach the end of the plates.
Once you do reach the end of the plate you must add an X at the end like you did at the start, this will be your last stud location.
Now that you have your wall laid out you place one plate near where the wall will be built and the other plate either 8 or 9 feet away from it, paralleling the first plate. The plate nearest where your wall is to go is called the bottom plate; the plate near the top is the upper plate. Mark sure that the plates are turned up on their edge the same way that you laid them out and also make sure that both plates are running the same way as when you laid them out.
Now place your pre-cut studs between the two plates, so that they run from one plate to the other and also make sure that they are placed on their edge like your plates. As you are placing your pre-cut studs between the two plates you must make sure that the crown in the studs are all facing the same way, usually you face the crown up.
What is a crown you ask and how do you determine which way it goes?
Pick up your stud by the end; turn it on its edge leaving one end on the floor. Then put your eye so that you can look down the entire length of the stud, you will see that the stud actually has a slight bend to it going one way or the other. You must make sure that if it bends up then that is how it is place on the floor between your two plates, every other stud should be placed the same way with the bend up.
Place one stud between the plates for every X you drew on the plates. If you laid out your wall properly then the studs should line up straight from one plate to the next.
Start at one end of the plates and nail each stud to the plate, you must put at least two 3 ¼” nails through the plate into the end of the stud. Make sure that the stud when it is nailed is tight to your plate and that one edge of the plate lines up with the line you drew and the rest of the plate is under the X that you drew. Nail the ends of studs to the plates so that both plates are now attached to the same studs.
Once all the studs are nailed then you must maneuver the new wall over to the exact location that you want it to go. The only thing you need to know is that you need to place the edge of the bottom plate 5 and a 1/2 “s in from the edge of your floor. To help you place the wall where it is suppose to go chalk a line at the 5 ½” mark across the length of where your wall is suppose to go. With this chalk line you then place the edge of the bottom plate at that line. Toe-nail that plate with some hand nails to hold it there, you must toe-nail on the inside of the wall, if they aren’t then when you stand up your wall the nails will interfere with the placement and cause problems later.
Now that you have the bottom plate secured to the floor you will need to square the wall up. To square the wall you need to measure from one corner to the opposite corner of the wall. That means that if you start at the bottom plate on the left side of the wall then you need to measure to the upper plate on the right side, you then measure from the bottom plate on the right side to the top plate on the left side. You must adjust the wall back and forth at the upper plate until both of these measurements are equal. When these two measurements are equal then the wall is square. Toe-nail a couple of hand nails into the upper plate so that the upper plate is attached to the floor, this will keep the wall square and in place until you are ready to stand it up. Make sure that these nails are placed on the outside of the wall so that you can remove them to stand the wall once the sheeting has been installed.
Starting at the upper plate you will need to place your OSB sheeting on the wall, the sheeting should be placed so that it runs length ways from left to right. Starting at the first stud that you installed on the left side of the wall you line the edge of the sheeting up with the left side edge of the stud. The top edge can be lined up with the top edge of the upper plate. Once the sheeting is lined up if you squared your wall correctly the left and upper edge of the sheeting will line up with the edge of your framing and if the studs are in the correct place then the end of the 8 foot sheet will fall in the middle of a stud. Nail this sheet with a minimum of 2 ¼ inch nails every 6 to 8 inches on every stud and on the plates.
The sheeting that you are installing on the wall is usually 8 feet by 4 feet, since you are installing the sheets horizontally then you are going to need at least 2 rows of sheeting, you may need more depending on the height of your wall. When you start the next row of sheeting you need to cut the first sheet in half before you install it. This makes the sheet 4 feet by 4 feet and will stagger the joints in the sheeting from the row above. Staggering the sheeting is a way to make the wall stronger by not lining all the joints up on one stud.
Cover the entire wall with the sheeting and nail it as informed above. You want to make sure that the sheeting does not stick past the end of the wall on the right. You also want to make sure that the sheeting does not hang below the wall at the bottom; if it does it will interfere with you standing up the wall. If the sheeting is a couple inches short on the bottom don’t bother filling the small gap yet, you can fill it and overlap the rim joist below later when the wall is standing. This will add some strength to the wall instead of having a little strip at the bottom.
There is one more thing that you need to do to the wall before you stand it up, you need to apply the house wrap on top of the sheeting. Install the house wrap on the sheeting by rolling it out over the wall and stapling it every 4 to 6 inches when it is smooth and taunt without any wrinkles or folds. Make sure to cover the entire wall but don’t let it hang down at the bottom or it will interfere with standing the wall up. You can leave it long on the top or on the ends because the house wrap is very easy to trim back later while you are framing the remaining walls of the house.
You are now ready to stand the wall up, pull the toe-nails out of the upper plate that you installed; you do not have to worry about the toe-nails in the bottom plate, besides since you installed them on the inner side of the plate and covered them with the sheeting you will have no access to them. They will act as an anchor as you stand the wall up, so it’s best to leave them there.
The rule of thumb is that every person can lift 4 to 6 feet of exterior wall depending on how high the wall is that you constructed. Grab the upper plate and lift together all as one so that the wall doesn’t twist or rack. As you lift the wall up over your head you will have to walk forward with your arms over your head, do this while still holding on to the studs. The wall will rise up fairly easily, once you have the wall vertical make sure that at least two people are holding on to the wall while someone else attaches long bracing to the studs of the wall. Nail the bracing first to the stud as high up on the wall as you can reach, once you have the bracing in place you must level the wall before attaching the bracing to the floor. Make sure that you attach a brace every 6 to 8 feet depending how high the wall is and how windy the location that you are working on can get.
You have now constructed your first wall, if you measure the wall you will notice that it is 1 ½ inches shorter than it should be, this is because you need to install another 2 x 6 to the top of the wall on top of the upper plate. This is called the top plate; it is installed after you have other adjoining walls standing. This top plate must overlap on to the next wall, this will help keep the wall from flexing and add overall strength and straightness to it.
This is the first part in a series of blog posts on how to frame houses properly. In my next post in this particular series I will explain how to frame an exterior wall that has windows and doors.
Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.
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