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Framing - Page 57 of 57

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.

  • 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…

  • Cooperative Craftsmanship

    Distinctive wood detailing, tile work, stained glass, and carving in a California living room.

  • Beam boom

    An old-timer showed me this device for lifting heavy timbers single-handedly. I have used it to raise 22-ft. long 4-in. by 16-in. laminated beams with surprising ease. The device requires…

  • Energy-saving sole plates

    The usual method of wiring a stud-wall house is to drill holes in the center of the studs and string the wire around the perimeter of the building. When the…

  • Double-beveled rafters

    Carpenters in central California use this technique for cutting double bevels on hip or valley rafters fashioned from conventional 2x framing lumber. Set the tongue of the framing square on…

  • Framing Jig

    I have a rapid and accurate method for assembling any wall, floor or roof that uses standard dimensions. It consists of a jig, which is simply a 2x4 notched on…

  • Framing an Open-Plan Saltbox

    Stability can be a problem when the load-bearing partition is removed.

  • Hand Room

    Back when I worked in the tracts, a little trick made our lives easier when it came time to lift stud walls into place. Both people working on a wall…

  • Raising walls with jacks

    When I built my own house, I borrowed walking jacks from my lumberyard and raised the walls myself. My lumberyard doesn't lend the jacks anymore, but they sell them for…

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