Library builder

Many builders—even experienced ones— don’t like to spend time plumbing window and door trimmers. But Lve found that this step really makes a better building. If the door 1. Drive this nail first, then bend it over, embedding the shank and head in the adjacent board. [1]trimmers are plumb, the doors hinge-side jamb butts solidly […]

The bottom plates of your walls are straight because they’ve been nailed to chalklines. The top plates should be fairly straight if you used straight stock when plating. But walls can deviate from straight at the top plate, and that’s where we need to check them. The easi­est way to line a wall is to […]

TO PLUMB WALLS, you can use a wall-high level that costs hundreds of dollars or you can make a plumb stick from any 2-ft. level and a straight 2×4 stud. Even a battered, inaccu­rate level can be used. Select the straightest stud you can find and nail a 16-in. 1×2 strip onto each end, letting […]

TO TIE JOINING walls together, the double top plate must overlap the top plate at each wall intersection. 1. If you’re nimble, you can perch on top of the framing to hammer overlapping joints together. 2• Otherwise, do the job on a ladder. 3. It’s good practice to drive a toenail (or two) into the […]

FRONT VIEW 36 in. Some furnace rooms need a platform so the heating unit can receive combustion air from below. my carpenter-daughter, you can hop right up on the plates and start lying the walls together. Otherwise, it’s best to work on a sturdy ladder. The corner marks you drew on the plates earlier now […]

Once you’ve finished with the exterior 16d nail between each stud. Be sure to drive a 16d nail close to each king stud. Drive plate nails into the rim joist or into a floor joist. Nails driven through the subfloor alone don’t have nearly as much holding power as those through walls, its time to […]

As with barn raisings of yore, it takes a few warm bodies to raise framed walls. Let one person be the team leader and encourage everyone to work together (see the photo below). Remind people to lift with their legs, not with their backs. In many areas, builders put a heavy bead of caulk or […]

The sudden, intense pressure exerted on a wall by a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake can be devastating. To withstand these forces, the walls must be well braced. As a novice carpen­ter, I used to cut 2.x stock with a handsaw and let it into the studs, running it diagonally from plate to plate. It was […]

In some parts of the country, carpenters raise the walls before cutting and nailing on the double top plate. In my opinion, the time to nail on the double top plate is now—while the wall is still flat on the floor. Otherwise, vou will have to use a ladder. The top plate is an important […]

LIKE HEADERS, OUTSIDE corners and channels can be built in a number of different ways, and pref­erences tend to be regional. The most common con­structions are shown in the illustration below. A two-stud outside corner works well in most cases, but if you are planning to install clapboard or fiber-cement siding directly to the studs […]