Framing/Sheathing

Hacker

Hi, I'm new to this forum and am very glad I found it. Looks like a lot of great information here.

I'm building a 22x24 ft garage. I'm about to start framing it and I wondered if there is any downside (other than weight, I guess) of squaring it up and installing the sheathing while the wall is laying flat on the slab and then lifting the whole thing up as one completed piece.

Can anyone think of why I would not want to do this?

Thanks

buletbob

This is not the way I frame. But have seen it done this way out west on some home shows.
The first fault that i see with this way of framing s that if the slab is not perfectly level. and you build your walls square and true, when you raise the walls and set them on the slab your walls are not going to be plumb.
second: if you loose the wall trying to left it, you will be re framing that wall again.

Termite

In this area, this is the only way it is done. You never see a house framed and then sheathed. Everything is built on the ground and tilted up. Many framers even install the windows before tilting the walls, which is frowned upon and prohibited by us inspectors and people in the know. Most framers use wall jacks to evenly lift their sheathed walls and gables, but manpower alone can do it.

Bob's right. You must have a flat slab or floor deck to frame them on. Don't forget to leave overlaps at the ends so the corners properly intersect...That way the walls are tied together better. Your top plates must also overlap. It is common to tilt up a wall with a single top plate and then come back in and install the 2nd top plate with the walls standing, before framing the roof.

Maintenance 6

That's been the most common way of framing around here for many years. I've never installed all of the sheathing because of the extra weight. Just one piece to keep everything square. If you have the muscle then go for it. One advantage to flat framing is that you can through nail your plates to the studs, rather than toe nailing. Lay your top and bottom plates side by side and use a square to mark your stud locations on both pieces at the same time. Install your king studs and headers first. Like Termite says, allow overlap on your sheathing so the corners meet properly. Have plenty of help. Those walls get mighty heavy just before they are half way up.
I've seen framing crews flat frame entire 3 bedroom ranchers and set the exterior walls in a day. By the next morning they were setting trusses.