Framing Tips – How to Straighten a Wall
A brace, kicker, and a handful of nails are all you need to make a crooked wall straight
Often you need to pull a wall out or push it in. And the way to to that is to set a brace, and then use a kicker to move it one way or another. at the top of the wall, you want to make sure the bottom corner of your brace is sitting between the double top plates. If you put the brace at the top of the plates, it’s just going to get in the way when you set your joists. Once you’ve got it where you want it, drive your nails parallel to the ground if you can. This way, as you put pressure on the brace, the horizontal nails will bend and hold fast, instead of pulling out of the plates. I usually put 3 or 4 nails.
When you set the bottom of the brace, you want to be over a floor joist so you have a solid surface to nail into. If we were going to pull this wall in, we could nail the bottom of the brace home. But we need to push this wall out, so we have one more step to do before we nail it down. To push the wall out, you’re just going to sit on the brace. depending on how much you need to move, you’ll want to put more weight into it before you nail it down.
