Framing: Wall Assembly

[youngins]

In Wagner's "House Framing", in the section on "Wall Assembly" (p 102), He suggests attaching all of the king studs first, then complete the rough openings.

While in a perfect world with perfect materials, this might work. However, with imperfect materials - I found out that you may put yourself in a situation where you may have to rip out a king stud when you go to complete the rough opening.

I then tried an outside-in approach. I started with the outside king studs first on each end and then worked my way in. When I got to a rough opening, I found the end result was the king stud that came just after the trimmer may be a little off - but at least I did not have to rip it out just to move it 1/4".

I was curious to hear if others have found the same to be true, or if there were other strategies they would like to share.

Thanks

Chris

[MikeT]

I found that for plating my walls, I did not do the most efficient method in terms of time, but it helped me build walls without having to re-do a lot.  I first put my top and bottom plate next to one another.  Then I started with my 15 1/4" measurement and made all my subsequent marks at 16" and put an X next to each line (I usually measured from the left to the right, so my Xs went to the right of my marks) and used a T square to make sure the marks were the same location on both plates.  Then I went back and marked the location of the trimmer studs and king studs for my window or door openings- I used an X for the regular studs, T for trimmers, and K for the King studs that went next to the trimmers.  For the cripples that fell into the rough openings, I simply marked a C on part of the X so that I knew it was where a cripple would fall.

Then when I started to build the walls, I would go with all regular studs first, then lay in the header assemblies that I made ahead of time (header + trimmer).  I would put in one King stud and then the header assembly and then the other king stud.  Then I would follow with measuring, cutting and nailing in the cripples.

I should add that I made a special effort to note where the 4', 8', 12' studs were located.  I wanted to make extra sure that those were right on in terms of stud location.  A 1/4" off and a slight bow could lead to the sheathing not quite falling where needed.  I have had to scab a few studs and joists in places where this occurred.  More than anything it bruises the ego.

I do not know if this is efficient, but it worked for me.  I am not billing out my time, so 15 extra minutes here and there does not cost me much.

mt

[glenn-k]

I do similar to Mike but make fine adjustments with a 24 OZ framing hammer.  PEG'll probably get me for that. :-/