Framing 69th Street

With the foundation in place and set up, we were able to begin framing the walls.  The began with laying out the walls on the slab and on the foundation walls with chalk lines, using the 3-4-5 triangle to square up the lines.  The appropriate length studs were nailed to the "sill plate" (bottom) and to the top plate.  With a ceiling height of 8 feet, the studs were 92 1/4", which allows for the 1-1/2" sill plate and 3 inches for a double top plate.  This totals 96 3/4", which allows for a drywall ceiling and still leaves room for two rows of 4' drywall below the ceiling.

My brother Don had a lot of experience framing homes.  He had worked with various contractors in home construction, and knew how to make the layout and mark the top and bottom plates.  We did not have pneumatic (air) nail guns, so we bought the 8d and 16d (d = penny) nails by the 50 pound box, and drove each nail into the ends of each stud, two at the top and two at the bottom.  After Don laid out the walls, we would assemble them, nailing in the studs, with headers and trimmers at all windows and doors.  Then we would raise the wall from horizontal to vertical.  The exterior walls would have to be lifted over the anchor bolts and secured with washers and nuts.

Framing is a fun activity, because it looks like a lot is being accomplished.  We were fortunate to have lots of extended family members who wanted to join in on the "fun."

I had ordered most of my lumber from Western Lumber, in El Cajon.  But we ran out of 2X4 studs. I remembered seeing ads for studs at the Home Base in El Cajon for 67 cents each.  I sent Kathy over there with my blue Dodge cargo van to pick up a load of 300.  She reported that she got quite the reaction when she walked in and asked "I would like 300 studs please."

As we raised each wall, we braced it with long 2X4s  with a slight lean outward, so that the perpendicular wall could be raised, then the corners could be nailed together.  Don was good at "teaching" us how this was to be done.  In reality he did all the critical stuff.

Once all the exterior walls were raised, he had us pull a string along each wall, from end to end, and we straightened it by pushing it or pulling it in or out until the walls were straight and braced securely.  He had sway bracing, corner bracing, and bracing to stakes on the outside.  We also had sheets of shear panel which were nailed at each corner to sturdy up the wall.  Once all of this was done, we framed the interior walls of the lower floor.  With all the lower floor's walls laid out and securely plumbed and braced, we then proceeded to install the floor joists.

My brother Maynard liked to bring his family over when ever we had lots of plywood to nail down.  So after the floor joists were securely in place, his family came over and made quick work of nailing down the plywood sheathing.

Then we started the wall layout and raising all over again for the upstairs floor.  After squaring up and securing the upper walls, we put up the ceiling joists. and sheathing that would serve as the attic floor.  The main attic roof called for 30 foot long 2X8 rafters.  These were not readily available, and would have had to be special ordered.  So we had to do some re-designing to accommodate shorter lengths of 2X6 rafters supported on beams with angle supports.  Once we framed the attic, we were amazed how large it was!  Had we known how spacious it would be, we could have used it for living space in some way, perhaps eliminating the lower level.  But as it turned out, it is an amazing storage area.

The roof over the living room and kitchen was designed using trusses, which span the full width of the house from front to back.  They went up rather quickly. But before we could put on the shiplap (starter board) and plywood for the roof, we had to put up the fascia.  Being afraid of heights, this was the most intimidating to me!  After cutting the rafter and truss tails in a straight line,  Don and I would take the 2X8 resawn lumber and lean out over the edge to nail it onto the tails.

With more nails to be driven, Maynard's family proved to be invaluable. First the starter board was nailed onto the overhangs.  This would be followed by the plywood sheathing for the roof.