How to Build a Wooden Stud Wall

Lay out the bottom plate and top plate of the wall side-by-side on the floor of the project. The plates are the horizontal boards at the top and bottom of the stud wall frame. Keep the ends of the plates flush. Stud locations can be marked on both boards at the same time.

Lay out the location of the studs. Most commonly, the studs are placed so the centers of the vertical boards are 16 inches apart. However, a 24-inch stud spacing is also possible in some building projects. Mark both the top and bottom plate for each stud.

Mark the locations of doors. Door openings have special studs on the sides of the door space that support the header. The header is a beam made of two 2-by-8 inch boards nailed together. Place the header horizontally above the door opening supported by special short jack studs, cut to the height of the door opening on each side. You also need a king stud on the outside of each jack stud reaching from the top to the bottom plate.

Mark the location of the windows. Window openings have short studs reaching from the bottom plate to the bottom of the window. Place a horizontal board across the bottom of the window opening. A header frames the top of the window opening with jack and king studs on each side.

Move the plates apart after completing the marking for the stud locations. Place the studs, commonly 92 5/8 inch long, between the stud marks on the plates, and nail them in place with two 16d nails through each plate. Nail the headers in place by nailing through the king studs, also using 16d nails. Nail together all components of the wall while it is lying flat on the floor.

Set the stud wall upright and in place. This requires at least two people and may require a larger crew depending on the length of the wall segment. Nail the wall to the floor joists through the bottom plate using 16d nails. Brace the wall upright using temporary braces fastened to the floor of the building or the ground.

Add a second, or double, plate over the top plate. This double plate extends across any seams where two segments of wall studs join. This can be at a corner in the home or where segments of longer walls were built in smaller segments for ease of lifting.