Replies

1. 
   SamT | May 07, 2003 10:29pm | #1

   YES

2. 
   CAGIV | May 07, 2003 10:33pm | #2

   After

   Easy to cut from the inside with recip, some guys use a router with flush trim bit, never done it myself, but someone who has should be around soon.

   Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professional build the Titanic.

3. 
   BossHog | May 07, 2003 10:41pm | #3

   I don't think it makes a lick of difference either way.

   If you lay it on in full sheets, it may go a bit faster. The only thing I don't like about doing it that way is that it's hard to tell where the wood is around the opening so you can nail the plywood on. But it also covers up the openings until you can get the windows put in - Keeps birds and such out.

   If you cut it first, you can see more easily to nail and the sheets are a bit lighter.

   Regardless of how much patience we have, we would prefer never to use any of it.

1. 
   CAGIV | May 07, 2003 10:45pm | #4

   hard to tell where the wood is around the opening??

   easy enough to measure and mark first ?

   goes a lot quicker if you got a guy or two hanging and another following cutting out the holes, as long as the windows are going in quickly after. 

   Admit it boss, you just like it cause it makes them lighter :)

   Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, Professional build the Titanic.

2. 
   ScottMatson | May 08, 2003 01:10am | #8

   Guys,

   Put away the sawzall and the router. I'm going to make your lives a lot easier, just pay attention. This is the system I developed, and believe me I've done all the other stuff. The router is a pain, it's easy to break off a bit, and you screw it up each time you hit a nail, in addition to the safety factor and dust/chips spitting in your face. Reciprocating saws are slow, inaccurate and can be dangerous to someone on the other side. Circular saws work much better. I’ve been using the following system with great results for years. It works well with two men, but I do it a lot myself as well.

   Run all the sheathing continuously across the entire floor level, or the whole building as you like. I don’t get too wound up about nailing around the windows at this time because as soon as the opening is cut out, it’s very obvious where the best nailing points are. Before moving scaffolding or ladders, etc. go to the inside of the house and take some 8 penny nails (same as those used for nailing the sheathing) and pop them through each corner of the windows/doors. Back on the outside, simply loop your chalkline around the nails, snap each length, retrieve the line and with one hammer blow, knock the nail back to the inside. Either pull them from the inside or tap them out with a nailset so you don’t saw the nails, or plan to use an old carbide saw blade and not worry about it.

   Set a circular saw to cut about a sixteenth-inch deeper than the thickness of the sheathing and cut around the chalkline, leaving the line and maybe a sawkerf width or so just to make sure the opening is large enough. There is plenty of room for error, so stay on the outside of the line and it should work out nicely.

   I usually cut the bottom first, then each side and the top last so that the piece doesn't want to fall on the blade and bind up. Just be wary of the piece falling on someone below, or on your feet.

   Happy framing,

   Dog

   Edited 5/7/2003 6:12:59 PM ET by Mad Dog

1. 
   FrankB89 | May 08, 2003 01:49am | #9

   Yup, I've done it that way, and you're 100 % correct! 

2. 
   RobKress | May 08, 2003 03:40am | #10

   I agree, this is the only way to go.  Sawzall too slow.  Router too slow and too accurate (no need to be so precise). 

   Circular saw all the way.  Fast, easy, cut the nails.... so what.  Not that rough frmaing has to be rough, but... it is still rough framing.  I mean.... a Steinway piano or a window opening?

   Rob Kress

3. 
   mwestenberg | May 08, 2003 03:41am | #11

   Sweet method!

   Mark

4. 
   JeffBuck | May 08, 2003 06:01am | #12

   Dog and Rob....

   U kids need a new sawzaw!

   Mine's plenty fast.

   Plunge and cut away.

   and the guy on the outside shoulda been looking anyways......

   JeffBuck Construction   Pittsburgh,PA

    Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite                  

4. 
   mike4244 | May 07, 2003 10:56pm | #5

   I have cut the openings various ways, sawzall after sheathing, router , and cut openings with skilsaw as I sheath. I usually cut as I sheath, all of the above will work fine.It seems to me ,cutting as you sheath is faster in the long run.  

   Mike                              

5. 
   Edgar76b | May 07, 2003 11:59pm | #6

            I think if you have a lot of openings on the wall.  It will help keep it square, to cut after. Even though,  It might be easier to cut, when the wall is down.

           When I do a remodel wall, inside, Where the floor is an issue. I like to score the underside of my sole plate, where my door jacks will end. Then I can keep it all together. Tight and square. Then I can cut it out easily. After its in place. I can protect the floor this way, If need be.

   Where there's A wheel there's a way, got any wheels?

6. 
   FrankB89 | May 08, 2003 12:29am | #7

   I like to cut the openings as I sheath, especially If I'm the one that'll be installing the windows.  I like to cut the sheathing just a bit larger (a 16th to an 8th inch) than the RO.  I've occasionally run into those wavy sawzall cuts...you've got a big window all gooped up and ready to go and, as you tilt it into place, it hangs up on a bit of sheathing that's protruding into the RO.

    

7. 
   framerboy | May 08, 2003 06:42am | #13

   Just because I love verbal abuse from others, here is my over 25 year old method. We run the sheathing solid through the entire building and then go back when it is convenient and cut out the openings from the inside with a chainsaw. It is much faster and most of my crew are real good with a chain saw. Yes, yes I do frame in Southern California, so forgive my lack of sensitivity in this matter but I have set many hundreds of windows this way and we stick with what works.

1. 
   RobKress | May 08, 2003 03:53pm | #14

   "cut out the openings from the inside with a chainsaw"

   Now that's fast!  And rough!  I like....

   But hey, didn't I hear something about the carpenters in CA not pulling bent nails??  You "cut" them off with the "hatchet" end of your "framing" hammer??

   Rob Kress

1. 
   framerboy | May 08, 2003 07:31pm | #15

   Naw, that is just some old urban legend. We have CAL/OSHA to deal with these days and they have beaten all the fun out of framing for sure. Besides bent nails come from hand nailing and the nail gun is king out here. Because I am old and used up I only drive about 16 nails a year with my hammer.

1. 
   andybuildz | May 08, 2003 08:00pm | #16

   I've always sheathed the entire job first and used a saw zall.

   A new saw zall blade cuts plenty fast and plenty precise and will cut through nails.

   I usually cut on an angle from the inside so that the plywood is always cut plenty out of the opening so no window snags, or shims get dead ended during installation.

   Also no need to worry about being on the scaffold planks and drilling corner holes and snapping lines (not that I haven't done that before). I'd have cut out two windows before you drill holes and snap lines on one, "before you even get to cutting".

   Personally standing on the floor and running my saw zall is fast safe and easy.

   Work smart, not hard!

   Be floored

            Namaste

                    andyn 

    

   In his first interview since the stroke, Ram Dass, 66, spoke with great difficulty about how his brush with death has changed his ideas about aging, and how the recent loss of two old friends, Timothy Leary and Allen Ginsberg, has convinced him that now, more than ever, is the time to ``Be Here Now.''

   http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM

8. 
   Mongo | May 08, 2003 09:50pm | #17

   I recommend sheathing over the window, then the following:

   Use a belt sander with 36 grit belts. Put the sander in the middle of the sheathing and you'll sand through the ply in no time at all. Once you sand a hole through the ply, work left/tight/up/down until you've sanded the ply back to the framing members. You get a nice smooth edge.

   It's really noisy so no one bothers you when you do it. Plus, you end up with a real big pie of sawdust. You can pretend the sawdust is pixie dust and scare your coworkers by throwing it at them.

1. 
   FrankB89 | May 09, 2003 12:27am | #18

   Will my Porter Cable 4 X 24 work or would a smaller sander be better?  And what do you use to clean the corners?  A Fein detail sander perchance?

   I can see where smoothing and slightly rounding the RO edges would reduce sliver damage to the housewrap! 

   And should one also sand and buff the shims? 

2. 
   JeffBuck | May 09, 2003 04:23am | #21

   We Have A Winner!

   I know it's a bit early in the seasons for "Post of the Year"......

   But I'm sticking by the proclamation!

   Very insightful...helpful.....got a good rhythm...easy to dance to.

   JeffBuck Construction   Pittsburgh,PA

    Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite                  

9. 
   Timuhler | May 09, 2003 01:12am | #19

   I read some of the responses and the chalkline looped around the nail idea sounded good, but....:)

   We have a 3 1/4" Bosch Plunge Router and we use Bosch flushcutting router bits with a 1/2 shank.  Those bits will not break cutting 5/8" sheathing.  This method is the cleanest and the fastest method.  Sheathe the entire wall and use a router. 

   I've done the chainsaw bit, the sawzall (which is the worst way to do it), the router bit and the chalkline bit.  None compare to a router.  I'm telling you the router is the way to go.  We have a Hitachi router that broke down and we didn't have our Bosch yet, we all noticed how slow it was sheathing and cutting the windows.  We tried all these methods again and hated them.  The router was/is the best way to go.

1. 
   Boxduh | May 09, 2003 04:00am | #20

   I used to do it Mongo's way with the belt sander, but then I rewired my Dremel tool to 230V, and now I just cut out the windows with that.  If I was doing jobs in Baghdad, with all those extra AK47s and huge ammo dumps around, I might just shoot 'em out.