Category: First Floor Framing

First Floor Framing

It’s Fall now, and we really want to get spray foam insulation installed before winter hits. That means we need all the framing done, as well as rough plumbing and electrical. Fortunately on the first floor we have an open floor plan, so there isn’t all that much framing to do. In addition to a few walls we need to finish the fire blocking and add nailing edges to the corners.

Blocking added to wall

Blocking added to wall

A few months ago, Dean came over and we got most of the fire blocking installed. The fire blocking consists of short pieces of 2×4 fit between the exterior wall studs at the floor, halfway up the wall, and behind the ribbon at the ceiling. They help prevent fire from spreading up the wall cavities, improve structural rigidity, add drywall nailing edges, and they’re required by code. Since we changed our plans, the only framing we need to do is the bathroom walls, the half-wall that divides the kitchen from the living room, and a small triangle of wall along the second run of stairs.

Last week I got the two bathroom walls up. As usual there was random shimming and allowances for our out-of-square house, but I must be learning because everything went pretty smoothly (except when one of the wall sections I had stood up fell over, broke the light, and almost crushed my camera). The walls are nice and straight despite the house and I didn’t have to take it apart to cut mis-measured boards.

Sarah’s dad, Mike, was over on Saturday and together we built the kitchen walls. There’s a short section under the beam connected to a half-wall that divides the kitchen from the living room, with a walkway near the wall. That went fairly smoothly, though we did run into one section by the wall we had to redo to compensate for the non-trueness of the outside wall.

Fire blocking with plugs

Fire blocking with holes and plugs

Sunday Sarah and I spent pretty much the whole day finishing the fire blocking. At the front and back of the house the floor joists run parallel to the wall, so if we’d put solid blocking in it would have closed off a pocket in the wall that couldn’t be spray foamed from below. To get around that I drilled 2″ holes in each piece of blocking so the spray foam installer can fill the pocket, put the little wood plug into the hole, then fill the rest of the wall.

Angled framing

Angled framing

Tuesday evening we framed the triangle of wall by the stairs and installed nailing edges at the corners. Wednesday evening our friend Mike came by with his truck and picked up most of our scrap metal pile in the basement, cutting down the big stuff with his torch. We need to clear all that out so the spray foam installers can get between the joists in the basement. We still have to get the tub and old boiler out, as well as some wiring, but it’s a huge improvement.

Truck loaded with scrap (also Derek)

Mike’s truck loaded with scrap (also Derek)

Yesterday I took care of some furring by the front door to even out the wall. We’ve got calls out to our plumber and electrician to get them lined up and see how soon they can do the work. Local code requires we use licensed contractors for the work, and it will certainly take them a lot less time than it would us. That’s not to say we won’t have anything to do ourselves. We still need to add furring to the ceiling, even up some of the outside walls, install the security system wiring, speaker wiring, and cabling conduit, plus clean out the rest of the basement, not to mention finish up a bunch of odds and ends we haven’t gotten around to. The exciting thing is that once all that’s done and Lester does some prep for the radiant floor heating, not only can we get our spray foam insulation, we can start drywalling. It’s been so long coming that it’s exciting just to think about.

Kitchen Wall Framing

I had a couple of projects to work on while we waited for the stringers to be delivered. Among them was the back kitchen wall. The back left of the kitchen has a doorway to the den, flanked on one side by the refrigerator and on the other by the coat closet and pantry. We had planned for a full framed coat closet with pantry cabinet next to it, however the redesign of the stairs made that space a bit smaller, so instead we’ll do a row of full height cabinets that we can use for both pantry and coats.

Level blocking, un-level ceiling joists

Level blocking, un-level ceiling joists

This wall is in-line with the support column, and as a result it’s between two floor joists, so the first step was to install blocking in the floor and ceiling joists. In the basement this went fairly smoothly, though I had to move two of them because they were under the doorway, which was rather useless. Fortunately I used screws, so it wasn’t too difficult to correct. The ceiling was a bit more complex because the ceiling isn’t straight, so I installed the blocking level, each one protruding below the floor joists a bit more toward the outside wall. When we drywall the ceiling we will be furring it level, so this shouldn’t be a problem. I screwed down the sill plate and top plate (both of which we double up).

Framed and ready to fit

Framed and ready to fit

I noticed that the outside wall wasn’t plumb to the tune of about ¾”, so I allowed for this by adding some extra depth so the cabinets would still fit flush. Unfortunately I also added this extra depth at the top, so when I framed the wall and put it into place, the studs weren’t plumb. Since we’ll have a refrigerator on one side and cabinet on the other, both sides need to be plumb. Since I’d put the header above the doorway in with all the nails, the easiest way to correct this was to shim the studs on either side.

The shims look pretty silly and of course they all split, but they do keep it secure and the bubble on the level is between the lines everywhere that counts. This wall isn’t load bearing or anything, so not having the jack stud fully sistered on one side won’t cause any issues. I think (hope?) by the time I finish this project I’ll actually know how to do it right the first time. Did I mention I messed up my stud measurements and built the wall 3″ too tall? I had to cut them all back and put the sill plate back on. Sigh.

Finished wall

Finished wall

I remembered to put the 2×6 nailing edge on the back of the wall stud. Having neglected that in some other cases and needing to fit pieces in after the fact, I’m getting better at that at least. There’s only one other small wall in the kitchen to frame. The other framing of the office and bathroom needs to wait until we put in the back sliding door. The stringers arrived yesterday, so the next project is to cut and fit them!

Blocking Installation

South wall blocking

South wall blocking

Dean came over one Saturday and we tackled blocking installation. Blocking (wood blocks installed between the wall studs) is required by fire code and also adds structural strength and drywall nailing edges. Using 2x4s we salvaged during first floor demo, we measured each stud bay along the North wall and cut separate pieces for the bottom, the middle, and the top behind the ribbon. We need the middle piece because we have 10′ ceilings. I wasn’t sure how fast or slow it was going to go, but we made pretty good progress. With Dean taking measurements and nailing, and me working the saw, we managed to get the entire North wall done and about a third of the South wall.

Bottom blocking

Bottom blocking

We used the nail gun to make fast work of the installation, and employed a couple techniques to avoid toe-nailing. Because the top of the floor joist terminates between the studs (a feature of balloon-frame construction) we were able to nail one end of the bottom blocking down into the joist and then nail into other end from the next stud over and work our way down. For the middle blocks we staggered so we could end nail from both sides. At window edges we nailed a small block to the stud and then nailed the blocking down into it. Finally, for the top we cut down the blocking on the table saw so it would fit behind the ribbon and then face-nailed them. We had to individually measure each piece because of the unevenness of the stud spacing, but it went fairly quickly.

Middle blocking

Middle blocking

The East and West walls we had to hold off on for the time being because the floor joists run parallel to the walls, meaning once we install the bottom blocking it will seal off a cavity below the floor. We’ll wait until the spray foam installation to put in the blocking so that everything gets insulated properly. There’s more blocking to do, but it requires  me to once again rearrange my tools and all the other stuff we have leaning against the walls. I started on it this week, and hope to get through most of it. As always, a big thanks to Dean for his help!

Top blocking (behind ribbon)

Top blocking (behind ribbon)

Blocking Preparation

Subfloor installed

Subfloor installed

The subfloor is finally all installed, which means it’s time to look forward to the next project: blocking. Blocking is the process of installing short pieces of framing between the wall studs at the bottom, middle, and top of the wall. This provides structural bracing (since the house tends to sway when there are strong winds), fire code (fire inside the wall takes longer to spread if there is solid wood in its way), and as a nailing edge for drywall. In addition, all along the kitchen wall we’ll install extra blocking to make cabinet installation easier.

Before we can get to work measuring, cutting, and installing blocking, I need to do some wall straightening. Because our house is built from rough sawn lumber, the studs are not exactly the same thickness. The original lath and plaster evened things out in ways that drywall will not, so we need to establish what straight looks like and then plane and shim the studs so that they are even and plumb.

Laser line establishes straight

Laser line establishes straight

I started work along the front of the house, where in addition to the above described challenge we have to allow for the support column in the wall and the front door, which is fairly thick. The column is 3½” thick, so it should sit flush, but the column cap at the top extends back, so the column is proud of the wall by about a half inch. I debated framing it as a visible column, but decided instead to bring the wall flush with it. I will still have to deal with the column cap and bolt at the top, so something will wind up being visible regardless, but that’s a finishing detail I’m not currently worried about. Maybe I’ll use a cornice or something.

Laser line on 6' level

Laser line on 6′ level

I used my laser level to project a plumb line and marked my shim position. I ripped that down on the table saw and then cut an angle off of it so that it would match the inside edge of the bay. After I glued and screwed down the remaining shims I ran my straight edge down the wall and realized that things weren’t quite where they were supposed to be. I wound up cutting thin wafers to shim my shims out so that everything was actually flush.

Shimming progress

Shimming progress

One challenge is that I can’t install the blocking at the bottom of the wall in the front or back of the house until the spray foam is put in, since there is a joist preventing the spray foam from being installed from below, as we’ll do on the sides of the house. I’ll wind up measuring and cutting the pieces, but leaving them loose, since we’ll need to put them in during spray foam installation. I also need to contend with the inside corners of the house, since they aren’t framed with a proper nailing edge. Basically, I have some more work to do before I can start putting the blocking in.