Precision Framing - For Pros By Pros

228 Pages·2002·103.26 MB·English

by  Mike Guertin

PRECISION
F ING

MIKE GUERTIN AND RICK ARNOLD
The Taunton Press
Publisher: JIM CHILDS
Acquisitions Editor: STEVE CULPEPPER
Technical Editors: BRUCE GREENLAW AND JEFFERSON KOLLE
Assistant Editor: CAROL KASPER
Copy Editor: CANDACE B. LEVY
Indexer: HARRIET HODGES
Cover DeSigner: STEVE HUGHES
Layout Artist: SUZIE YANNES
Front Cover Photographer: WEND! MIJAL
Interior Photographers: MIKE GUERTIN AND RICK ARNOLD, EXCEPT WHERE NOTED
Illustrator: MARIO FERRO
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Text © 2002 by Mike Guertin and Rick Arnold
Photographs © 2002 by The Taunton Press, Inc., except where noted
Illustrations © 2002 by The Taunton Press, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 S 4 3 2 1
For Pros/By Pros® is a trademark of The Taunton Press, Inc.,
registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The Taunton Press, Inc., 63 South Main Street,
PO Box SS06, Newtown, CT 06470-SS06
e-mail: [email protected]
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guertin, Mike
For Pros/By Pros®: Precision framing / Mike Guertin and Rick Arnold.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-S61S8-634-X
1. Framing (Building) l. Arnold, Rick, 19S5- II. Title.
TH2301.G84 2001
694'.2-dc21 00-049833
To Charlie, Bruce, Phil, Todd, Marc, Scott, and Mac.
Acknowledgments
In brief, thanks to the various employees and friends who over the years helped
us hone our framing skills and techniques: P. Money, T. Money, Thumper, Chas,
Magoose, Wee Wee Bald Head, Sir Charles, Scooter, Dunc, Moosa, Andrew Baby,
Soup, Pumper, Momus, and the rest of the cast. Thanks to Carol Kasper for
keeping us on track, for putting on a tool belt to learn what we were up to, and
for arranging the B-heads and C-heads. Thanks to Jeff Kolle for polishing things
up. Steve Culpepper deserves thanks for enticing us to write Precision Framing.
Special thanks to Roe Osborn for teaching us everything we know about writing
and taking photographs. And, of course, thanks to Kevin Ireton and the rest of
the Fine Homebuilding magazine editors for bringing us on board as contributing
editors, taking us to lunch, and making us twist a little more to the left.
About Your Safety: Homebuilding is inherently dangerous. From accidents
with power tools or hand tools to fall from ladders, scaffolds, and roofs, builders
and homeowners risk serious injury and even death. We try to promote safe work
practices throughout this book, but what is safe for one builder or homeowner
under certain circumstances may not be safe for you under different circum
stances. So don't try anything you learn about here (or elsewhere) unless you're
certain that it's safe for you. If something doesn't feel right, don't do it. Look for
another way. Please keep safety foremost in your mind whenever you're working.
CONTENTS
Introduction 2 Chapter 3
CENTER BEAMS 42
Chapter 1
43
BEAM BASICS
TOOLS 4
43
PLANNING A BUILT-UP BEAM
OFFICE TOOLS 5
45
INSTALLING THE BEAM
6
HAND TOOLS
53
OrHER BEAM MATERIALS
POWER TOOLS 13
55
INSTALLING SUPPORT COLUMNS
16
PNEUMATIC TOOLS
BEAM/JOIST CONFIGURATIONS 57
19
STAGING
21 Chapter 4
OrHER EQUIPMENT
FLOOR FRAMING 58
JOIST LAYOUT FOR
59
CONVENTIONAL FLOOR DECKS
FRAMING JOISTS FOR
69
CONVENTIONAL FLOOR DECKS
INSTALLING SUBFLooR SHEATHING
82
FOR CONVENTIONAL FLOOR DECKS
88
FRAMING FLOORS WITH I-JOISTS
95
FRAMING FLOORS WITH TRUSSES
Chapter 2
MUDSILLS 24
25
SIZING Up THE FOUNDATION
26
LAYING OUT FOR MUDS ILLS
CHECKING THE FOUNDATION
FOR LEVEL 33
36
INSTALLING THE MUDSILL
39
USING SHIMS TO LEVEL THE MUDS ILL
40
FRAMING WALLS ON DROPS
READY TO MOVE ON 41
Chapter 7
STRAPPING CEILINGS
AND FRAMING INTERIOR
PARTITION WALLS 184
185
MARKING INTERIOR PARTITIONS
LAYING OUT AND
186
INSTALLING STRAPPING
190
LAYING OUT THE WALL
MEASURING STUD HEIGHT
194
AND PREPPING WALL PARTS
195
FRAMING THE PARTITIONS
Up 197
FINISHING
Chapter 5
WALL FRAMING 98
99
PLANNING EXTERIOR BEARING WALLS
LAYING OUT BEARING WALL PLATES 105
Chapter 8
121
ASSEMBLING THE WALLS
SPECIAL FRAMING DETAILS 198
FRAMING OTHER BEARING
140
AND EXTERIOR WALLS SPECIAL DETAILS FOR FRAMING
198
INTERIOR PARTITION WALLS
Chapter 6
206
SPECIAL DETAILS FOR ROOF FRAMING
ROOF FRAMING 146
SPECIAL DETAILS FOR FRAMING
209
FOR SUBCONTRACTORS
147
A STICK-BuILT ROOF
166
ROOF TRUSSES Index 212
INTRODUCTION
F
raming custom homes was techniques to build a frame
our bread and butter for better and faster. We weren't
15 years. But, unlike most stuck doing it lithe boss's way"
framers who learn their trade like so many of our employees
working on other crews before who had experience working on
breaking off on their own, we other crews. We gathered ideas
used the academic approach. from many sources and adapted
The framing chapters of a them to suit our style. New
couple of construction books employees came with their own
wri tten in the 1950s and 1960s experiences. We talked with
served as our mentors. But the other framers and shared ideas.
text was short on the how-to's We read building magazines and
of getting the lumber cut and books. And we experimented
assembled to look like the with our own ideas.
drawings in the books. More As our framing business grew
words were spent expounding and we began running several
the virtues of running the 1 x crews at once, we saw the need
pine sheathing diagonally rather to develop a standard operating
than perpendicularly to the procedure (SOP). We needed to
framing members and handling write down the systems we used
a crosscut saw. Our lack of so all the guys were consistent.
training, which felt like a curse Three months of biweekly
at times, had a positive meetings with our six core crew
consequence-we were always members were spent mapping
looking for and trying new out the best way to do
2