How to Do Roof & Wall Framing

Walls

• 1

  Build walls on some flat surface like a driveway or slab foundation and erect them as a unit, rather than trying to build them in place. Lay the top and bottom plates together with 2-inch edges up and mark them for stud locations. Use a tape measure and speed square to draw a line with a pencil across the plates 1 1/2 inches from the end. Measure 15 1/4 inches and draw another line to mark the outside of the second stud. Mark spaces based on that line at 16-inch increments the length of the wall.

• 2

  Lay the top and bottom plates in position, with a stud at each end. Nail those studs in place, with the marks as a guide. Square the frame by measuring from corner to corner and adjusting the studs slightly until those dimensions are the same. Nail other studs in place at the marked locations. Drive two 16d framing nails with a hammer through the plates into each stud end.

• 3

  Leave gaps for windows and doors, according to a house plan. Frame exterior and interior walls basically the same. Adjust the plates to conform to the dimensions of the house; in other words, for a 12-by-12-foot square space, make two sets of plates 12 feet and two 11 feet 5 inches, which will be 12 feet when joined with the 1 1/2-inch plates on the connecting walls. Erect nails and secure them to the foundation and with nails at the corners.

Windows and Doors

• 4

  Make headers or top supports for window and door openings with 2-by-6-inch boards sandwiched around spacer pieces of 1/2-inch plywood so the header thickness is the same as the 3 1/2-inch width of a stud. Fasten the outside header segments around the plywood with 8d galvanized nails. Cut the headers to the width of the specified window or door opening with a circular saw.

• 5

  Support headers with a full stud on each outside and a shorter stud, called a trimmer, cut to fit between the bottom of the header and the bottom wall plate, for a door, or the bottom of the window, called a sill. Install a 2-by-4-inch sill at the bottom of the specified window opening. Cut other trimmers to fit between the top of the header and the top plate, one on each outside edge of the header and others at 16-inch intervals between. Level headers and sills with a 2-foot level before nailing.

• 6

  Add support for window sills with trimmers cut to fit between the bottom of the sill and the top of the bottom plate. Nail all trimmers to full studs and to the headers and sills. Leave the bottom wall plate intact on window frames; cut it inside the trimmer studs with a reciprocal saw for door frames. Place the frames in the appropriate openings in the wall and nail them in place with framing nails driven through the plates into the studs, two nails per stud.

Roofs

• 7

  Mark wall tops for either trusses or rafters. Draw a line across each wall top 1 1/2 inches from the back of the roof to mark the inside for the first truss or rafter. Measure 23 1/4 inches in and draw another line, marking the outside of the second truss or rafter. Measure 24-inch increments, based on that second line, the length of the roof; the last space may be slightly under 24 inches.

• 8

  Lift trusses upside down, starting at the back end of the roof. Set the first truss plumb with a level and brace it with boards nailed to the truss and to stakes in the ground. Erect other trusses one at a time, and set each plumb. Brace them with 1-by-4 or 2-by-4-inch boards, according to house plan or building specifications; some trusses are braced with diagonal boards across bottom chords, others with boards from the top of a truss to the bottom of another.

• 9

  Install rafters in a similar fashion, but typically with a 2-by-6-inch ridge board at the peak between rafter tops. Set a pair of rafters in place at the back end, brace them plumb and let the tops rest against each other. Set another pair at the other end of the roof. Slide the ridge board between the rafter ends from the bottom and secure it with two framing nails through each rafter top.

• 10

  Level the ridge board with a 4-foot level and set other rafters in place, one pair at a time, using the marks as a guide. Plumb each pair with a level. Tie each truss or rafter end to the wall tops on each side with "hurricane" clips, metal brackets fastened with 8d nails to each truss or rafter end and each wall top.