How to Reinforce Balloon Framing

Reinforce balloon frame walls with top and bottom plates. These plates are a single or double layer of 2-by-4s on the top and bottom of each wall section and they are the difference between balloon framing and "platform framing." These plates help stud walls resist lateral forces and, most importantly, they discourage fires from quickly climbing the wall spaces between stories.

Nail top and bottom plates to wall studs using a checker-faced framing hammer and 10-penny common nails.

Square balloon frame walls when they are erected. Square these walls by nailing equal length 2-by-4s from a lower corner of the wall to the upper corner on the opposite end of the wall using a checker-faced framing hammer and 10-penny common nails. When these walls were a new idea, builders sometimes left these diagonal supports in place to resist the lateral forces that might collapse the wall.

Sheath balloon frame walls with 4-by-8-foot sheets of plywood using galvanized eight-penny box nails and any framing hammer. Studs are always 16 inches apart on center to accommodate the placement of 4-foot- and 8-foot-wide sheets of exterior wall sheathing and interior wall coverings. In modern house construction the studs inside the wall evenly distribute and transfer to the ground the weight of the house above and sheathing, which is usually plywood but might be boards, keeps the walls square and erect.