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Framing - Page 63 of 64

Is there anything more important to building a house that lasts than framing it correctly? Ask any framer and they will tell you that, no, nothing sets the tone for a new house or an addition more emphatically than the quality of the frame. The guys that do the foundation might have grounds to disagree, but the reality is that no well-built house ever springs from a poorly executed frame. Just building a backyard garden shed? Same rules still apply.

Frames in residential construction are almost always made from wood. Whether the house is panelized, modular, or site-built, the frame is likely to be fabricated from softwood. And most houses are built on site, assembled one stud, joist and rafter at a time. The list of skills a framer needs to accomplish this isn’t short, and by the time the framers get to the roof and begin cutting compound angles in pieces of dimensional stock the ante has gone up considerably. House plans and floor plans will be drawn up by others, but the quality of the finished house is a function of the hundreds of individual connections and thousands of fasteners under the purview of the framing crew.

New materials, and more sophisticated tools, are creeping in. Engineered lumber is becoming an increasingly important component in many new homes, not only in the I-joists that many builders already use for floor joists, but also in engineered studs, headers and beams. Framers are finding more uses for light-gauge steel. Green builders are mastering techniques that make houses more energy efficient — better ways of framing corners and headers, for example, or building houses with double stud walls.

So if the craft of framing houses in many ways looks just like it did a century ago, it’s not. Want to keep up? Hang out with the pro framers who write for Fine Homebuilding.

  • The Scribed Ellipse

    An easy way to lay out elliptical coves.

  • Stepping Up

    I recently added three dormers on a 12:12 roof, using a toe-board and roof-stair system that saved me a lot of time, risk and effort. As shown in the drawing,…

  • A Strapping Idea

    The easiest way to keep the bottom plate of a framed wall from walking when it is being raised is to toenail it into the subfloor. The nails bend easily…

  • Walls with Braces

    When plumbing and lining a frame, I use this trick if I encounter a stubborn exterior wall, bristling with headers and bowed outward. Nail a 2x4 scrap flat to the…

  • Scissor Framing

    While framing, you can plumb and align stud walls with a self-assembled, scissor-like tool.

  • Solo Framing

    A carpenter working alone can hold a header, blocking or similar framing member in place for final nailing with a few bent nails. I use 8d nails, driven about a…

  • Window box

    In the course of remodeling older homes, I've developed the window box/greenhouse shown in the drawing. Its deep recess gives the same comfortable feeling of a window in a thick…

  • Tub drops in

    Using materials and fixtures in a way that wasn't originally intended is a mainstay of remodeling work. This can even be true of bathtubs. My project last summer was a…

  • Framing Under a Peak

    Putting studs into the wall beneath the end rafters of a peaked roof can be time-consuming, but two simple jigs make it easy. Using a carpenter's square (or a calculator),…

  • Wall Bracing

    One common problem in framing is how to straight-line a second-story stud wall and brace it for joisting or rafters if it leans out. Here's one way you can pull…

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Fine Homebuilding Magazine

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