I’m building a 16’X32′, two-story gambrel roof storage shed. At present, now that the slab is done and ready, I’m starting on it by myself…..
The 8′ tall back wall has no doors and is 32′ long. Framing and sheathing the back will make it heavy and long to tilt up…. Lifting the bottom plate over the foundation bolts is still another problem I’ll soon face.
I’ve seen some work where the plates are bolted down and framing begins upright from one corner. Any input on this method would help. The smaller 16′ ends and maybe the long front wall being built in two halves around entrance door could be built flat and tilted up easier.
Could you tell me what worked well for you? Thanks,
Bill
Replies
When I have to do this on my own, I use 12' top and bottom plates and build the wall on the floor. I leave off the plywood to save on the weight. I don't see a problem with attaching the bottom plate and toe-nailing the studs in place. I wouldn't know how to keep them all upright though.
Edited 4/26/2007 10:59 pm ET by ChicagoMike
Goin' solo, I'd likely stand it unsheathed.
Layout your plates before bolting down the bottoms. Stand the end walls first so that you have something to tie to while standing the long wall in two 16' sections.
It'll take little longer, but you'll save your back.
Plumbing and squaring won't be fun alone. BTDT.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
Bill, Here's an idea...
assuming you will have at least 2 helpers to raise the wall, frame the 32' wall in two sections, just don't nail the ply where they overlap.....lay a 2x4(or 6) on the slab on the flat next the bolts(before you start framing) butt your bottom plate close to this 2x, when you raise your wall, this 2x will act as a pivot point and you can stand your wall on this "plate", then slide the wall onto the bolts,...or at least you will only have to lift the wall an inch or so to get over the top of the bolts, and you can use a wrecking bar or similiar to leverage the wall up that one inch or so.
Geoff
How is your site access?
How flexible is your schedule?
In general in several parts of the country I have been able to find crane services with a $150 minimum charge. Generally don't even need the full hours time to accomplish the pick.
Cranes can allow small crews and solo builders to accomplish heavy lifts without breaking their backs.
grahammamay,
Is there any construction going on in your area at all? if there is and they have a telehandler (Teliscopic forklift) you might get them to do your lift for $20.00 or so!
As a framer with a forklift.....I'd have to be out of my mind to do anything at all with my forklift for $20 on someone else's site. Any idea of the liability involved Frenchy? Or how the cops feel about driving them down the street? $20? No way.
I'd walk over there with the fellas and help stand it up manually for a couple sandwiches. But there's no way I'd get the forklift involved. Doesn't matter what the amount of money is.... but once money is exchanged, the rules completely change when you're the owner of a business.View Image
A framer I used to work for had a fork lift and he drove it for miles on city/country roads. I remember following him in the PU in the winter and him having to stop every ten minutes or so and come into the truck to warm up because his hands and ears were just about frozen!
The other fun thing was at any given time at least one of the brakes wasn't working and sometimes only one of the four was working! Then there were the hydaulic leaks. We had some adventures. Fun too when he'd lift me up to put a window in on the second floor, then he'd go into the house and get the window plumbed and shimmed, then wander off and leave me up there on the forks, so I'd have to climb down after I'd nailed the flanges.
Danno....no offense but all that nice story proves is that your buddy is a moron.
That cowboy stuff is always a blast. At least until the police, the ambulance, or the insurance company shows up.View Image
Yeah, I had my moments of panic, like when he nearly tipped it over one day, almost drove it into the hole another because only one brake was working, etc.. Another guy who worked with us said he watched him turn it over in soft sand one day and ran up expecting to see him crushed, but he got out without being hurt.
I already mentioned here another time about how another guy was standing on the third floor of a building with the level and John was tugging on the already sheathed walls to plumb them when the fork just lifted one end of the wall off the floor, it pivoted out and crashed to the ground and the other three walls followed suit. Fortunately not injuring himself or the guy with the level or anyone else.
I never thought it was a blast, and I don't get off on macho stuff. I just happened to need the work and worked for him as long as I could stand it, but decided my life was worth more than the $8/hr he was paying me.
dieselpig,
If you have the SMV decal/plate on the back of the boom it's fully legal to road drive. Wisconsin requires you to have full lights but that's the only legal problem that I know of.. In fact if you read the rules regarding construction equipment completely they are exempt from a drivers license requirement at all. That little twist in the law means that your 9 year old daughter* can legally drive a 50 ton crane down the highway as long as it doesn't have a license*2. She may not be able to operate it on site due to other restrictions but at least technically on the road it's OK.
* or someone who's lost their license due to DUI's which is who showed me the exact wording.
*2 All of the really big cranes have axles that do not meet legal requirements regarding spacing, and most do not have direct steering linkage which is required to be road legal. they too get around that by not having a license plate at all which makes them construction equipment and thus not required to conform to motor vehcile laws at all.
Now I can well imagine the hassle of driving a 50 ton crane without a license plate wouldn't be worth it but at least technically it's legal.. Most larger cranes here in Minnesota do not have plates.
Then we can discuss road restrictions. Technically forklifts are exempt since they are construction equipmentand again road rules don't apply to construction equipment, but who wants to spend a day in court while you argue that out in front of a judge.
Regarding road driving of Telehandlers, depending on the brand there are a whole lot of issues.. For example Gehl has an issue with it's hubs. Big strong hubs limited by the fact that the oil fill hole is very small and has no vent. it's at least a 45 minute job to drain the hubs and even longer to fill them up. the normal service interval of 200 hours can be reduced by a single 45 minute road drive. there simply isn't enough room in their hubs to remain cool and that means that the oil will break down and fail. Older Lulls have those same hubs. It didn't matter though, Lulls untill they were built by JLG were so slow road speed that you would fall asleep driving one. 12.3 MPH top speed with the newest version. (everybody else is 20MPH +or - )
Cat's have another issue,, their inboard brakes will cause the oil to cook if brakes are used heavily or repeatedly. other brands with inboard brakes don't suffer from that problem (although I've heard about similar problems in JCB's) That problem surfaced when a Cat worked on a parking ramp.
As for using your equipment on someone elses job site, it happens all of the time whenever we rent out equipment to a contractor. (Don't get me started on insurance.. that's pages and pages of stuff, exceptions, rules, variances, and clauses that would have the average lawyer shaking his head)
Do what JD said and do the side walls then the back wall in 2 sections.
Frame and stand the 16' side walls first. Install 1 piece of sheathing on each before standing it up to hold it in square. Brace these end walls plumb with temp diagonal 2x4 braces nailed to stakes driven into the ground 8' or so out from the foundation. For these diagonals, prior to standing the wall sections, the stakes are driven into the ground and the brace is attached to the stake with 1 nail and is laying in place across the wall bottom plate ready for later use. On these side walls the double top plate which was installed while it was still laying on the floor, will be held back from the corner 3.5" or so (assuming 2x4 wall construction).
Then frame the back wall in two ~16' sections, and again only apply one pc of wall sheathing to each wall section to keep it from racking while you are standing them up. Leave off the double top plate. Have a few stakes set and diagonals ready to roughly hold these back walls in place. If you have any interior walls you can nail down temp nailers to attach diagonals to where these walls will go later. Stand up one of the back wall sections and nail up the back corner of the building paying special attention to plumb of the corner. Now stand the second back wall section. You will have a double stud where the 2 wall sections meet roughly in the middle of the bldg. Now straighten the back wall with a string line and brace for plumb. Install the double top plate on top of the back wall.
Some crews like to frame and stand the entire first story and then later plumb and sheath, but personally, for someone who doesn't frame every day, I think it is easier to get it right to do the installation of 1 pc of sheathing per wall before standing method.
Really though it's best to have a helper to if nothing else hold a wall up while you brace it. Standing walls solo can be dangerous because you stand one up, and then turn around to get a brace, or whatever, and the wall falls on you. :-( Further, even a 16' wall can be somewhat heavy for 1 person to lift, although it is doable for someone in 1/2 way decent shape. Your significant other or even a young teenager can serve to just hold things up while you secure them. That person would only have to come out there for 15 minutes when you have a coupla walls ready to stand.
Edited 4/27/2007 8:08 am ET by Matt
Invest in some wall jacks (about 100 bucks each). They will allow you to frame, sheath, set any windows and side the wall while it's laying flat, then raise it safely by yourself.
For someone working alone, or with a very small crew, I'd say wall jacks are right up there with electricity as a labor saver.
Out here in the Great Northwet tool rental yards even have them. Remodeling contractor who once visited the Glass City.
For someone working alone, or with a very small crew, I'd say wall jacks are right up there with electricity as a labor saver.
That's a great line Jim... and very true.View Image
Oh man. I grew up sheating and siding walls after they were errected. That's just the way everyone around did it back then. First time I ran into framing walls on the deck, then jacking them to vertical I couldn't believe it - right up there with the first time I used a tape measure instead of a 6' folding ruler or a pneumatic nailer.
Seriously, basic hand tools, skill saw of choice, a couple step ladders and a pair of wall jacks. You can get a heck of a lot built alone with just those tools. Remodeling contractor who once visited the Glass City.
Counter sink your foundation bolts and nuts. Then cut them off with a grinder and metal wheel.
Build your wall normal, bottom plate and all. Roll it into place. If it's too heavy to lift with sheeting then do it later. Gotta dance with who ya brung, know what I mean.
why nottake that 32 wall and break it into three sections
stilletto, I hope you don't mean countersink them into the PT. "Counter sink your foundation bolts and nuts."Around here that would have the inspector making you replace them.
"Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca
Into the PT is right. I do it without issue here.
Bill,
First of all, no one should be framing and sheathing garage walls by themselves and try ad lift them over bolts with no framing experience, not even guys who frame every day. If you are 100% sure that you have to frame these walls by yourself and can't get one person to help you, then forget about sheathing the walls, it makes no sense at all, you'll break your back.
If you can frame and sheath the walls and leave them on the deck and then get a lull or crane in there then do so.
Since you're doing this by yourself you should nail and bolt your bottom plate down. Nail a corner post up and plunb it and brace it. If your using a 16' top plate, then nail another stud in about 10' from the corner post, plumb and braced. Take your 16' top plate and nail it on top of the corner post and stud, then fill in the rest of the studs and sheath later.
Hopefully you have a perfect slab and it's not up and down because all your top plates will follow.
Back to the title of the thread "Stand up or Tilt up", what does he mean by that? What's the difference?
I'm past the point in my life where I feel like I need to do everything myself. Sure, I still DIY stuff, but I'll get a helper in a heartbeat if the work is heavy enough.
At least he didn't say that he was pouring the slab out of Sacrete by himself... :-)
Matt,I've framed walls by myself and sheathed by myself and hung rafters by myself and sheathed roofs by myself. There's a way do do anything, but it has to be well thought out and safe. I frame for a living, this guy doesn't and can seriously hurt himself.Forget him trying to frame and sheath the walls first and then using wall jacks and trying to lift them over the bolts, that makes no sense because he;s never done that before and he can get hurt.Even framing my way by nailing the shoes down and toe-nailing the studs and pushing the bottom of the studs into the shoe and lifting there walls up is cake for me with help, but for this guy by himself makes no sense.For him to work by himself with not one person or a machine, he has to do it the right way and the safe way. The way I described above for him would be safe and easy. The he can sheath later.Joe Carola
Framer,
I agree, just stick frame the wall, one piece at a time. Once you are into the rythm it goes quick and is safe. On tall walls it helps a lot if you nail "fire block" halfway up the stud or where a sheathing joint will be. Need to sq. the wall? Use Long 2 x 4's nailed to the bottom and top plates diagonally across the wall and push/pull it into place.
Or invest in a couple of screw braces used by concrete wall builders. Nail right to your 2x stock and have a screw adjustment like a turn buckle does.Worried about slab not being flat? String a line from top plate to top plate where the wall is to be built, measure each stud.I have framed a lot of wall this way working by myself.BTW, Code doesn't allow knotching or countersinking of the PT plates. Drill or counterbore the bottom plate instead.
"Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca
Here's a link to a thread about bad slabs and what I do.http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=65333.27Joe Carola
Framer,
I have used the same technique myself.
"Poor is not the person who has too little, but the person who craves more."...Seneca