Typical Residential Framing Plans

Advance Marking

• A good framing plan requires you to measure and mark all walls before construction begins. This is best done on a foundation slab, driveway or other flat surface. Mark the walls one at a time. Lay 2-by-4 inch boards for top and bottom places side by side with the 2-inch edges up and use a framing square to mark stud locations across both boards at the same time. Marking all plates in advance will show stud builders exactly where to nail vertical studs.

16-inch Stud Spacing

• The first end stud on a wall goes at the end of the wall plates. The second stud is 15 1/4 inches from the end of the plates; all other studs on that wall are set 16 inches apart from that stud. This spaces the stud centers 16 inches apart to conform to 4-by-8-foot panels of exterior sheathing and interior drywall.

Square Walls

• A good method is to frame wall outlines first with end studs nailed between top and bottom plates and square that frame. Then nail in interior studs, leaving spaces where indicated in the house plan for doors and windows. Door and window frames can be built separately and installed as a unit.

Doors and Windows

• Door and window openings need full studs on each side of the opening with headers, usually 2-by-6 inch boards, horizontally across the top of the opening. Windows need "footers" at the bottom of the opening. Both headers and footers must be supported by partial studs between the header and the bottom of the rough opening and between headers and footers and top and bottom plates.

Interior Walls

• Interior walls are framed like exterior walls, but openings for closet and room doors usually are framed with 2-by-4 rather than 2-by-6 headers because they do not bear any load from the roof. Interior walls also need special openings for electrical and plumbing utilities, typically run through the studs with holes drilled through them.

Erecting Walls

• Once walls are built, with door and window openings installed, they are set erect on the slab foundation or a floor built over basement joists or stub walls. Walls must be secured to the foundation with appropriate fasteners, framing nails or special fasteners driven into concrete. They need to be set plumb and square, typically braced temporarily with boards nailed to studs and to stakes in the ground. Once walls are set, they are nailed together through corner studs.

Cap Boards

• A final step in wall framing is adding cap boards to tie the walls together. These go on top of the top plates of both exterior and interior walls, arranged so the cap on one wall overlaps the top plate of the connecting wall. An end wall cap, for instance, would extend over the top plates on the side walls. These caps form the walls into a solid structure.