Guidelines for a Safe Wood Wall

Fire Blocking

• Fire blocking refers to placing certain types of materials in the cavities of wooden walls to slow the spread of fire. The material interrupts the path of the fire preventing it from quickly engulfing the home. One common type of fire blocking involves placing a horizontal length of two-by-four lumber between the walls studs. Other types of fire blocking materials include polyethylene foam and fireproof caulk. Local building codes regulate the acceptable materials and the placement of fire blocking, so check with your building department before installing.

Exact Shape

• Builders usually frame wooden walls on a floor and erect them afterward. Ensuring that a wall is square is a key part of making sure that it will remain safe and stable once erected. The four corners of the wall need to align at 90-degree angles. The studs must all be of equal length for the wall to be perfectly square. The top and bottoms plates must extend the exact same length as well. You can test if the wall is square by measuring the framed wall diagonally both ways; the wall is square if the measurements are identical.

Support

• Once you got the wall erected, you may need to offer it additional support as you build any other walls to which it will adjoin. Braces, long wooden boards nailed to the wall at an angle, can help keep a wall stable as construction continues around it. You nail one end of the brace to a wall stud or header, and the other end to the subflooring. In areas vulnerable to hurricanes or earthquakes, metal anchors, called hold-downs, placed at strategic points, can increase the wall's resistance to collapse.

Connectors

• Certain kinds of metal plates and angle brackets, called framing connectors, increase a wall's durability when fastened to the stud joints, and the intersection between the wooden top and bottom plates and the studs. Framing connectors work especially well when used to reinforce the top plates where two walls meet. Since the connectors increase the wall's resistance to wind and earthquake damage, building codes in vulnerable areas might require that you install them.