Sheathing Walls On Ground.......

scottalan

How many of you guys sheath your wall's like this?,I'm almost embarrassed to say I have never did it this way we always have another crew sheath when the walls are up.

I have some questions for you guys who do it this way

-What precautions do you use when standing them for instance on walls with out sheathing we always nail a blocks to the band board to prevent any accidents?

-How do you lift your walls jacks,men etc.....?

-Is it worth the extra time does it slow up the framers?

I'm thinking about switching to this method and need some advice any help would be appreciated

loneframer

You will have valid arguments on both sides of this issue. I personally sheath everything after standing the walls, for a variety of reasons. I find it to be more productive. Other guys will argue that point, but I've done it both ways and it works for me in my situation.
I built mostly along the Jersey shore for 20+ years. Wind plays a major role when you want to stand a 60 foot wall with sheathing. It also requires additional bracing after standing. I have seen walls go over the side. When the building next door is 8' away, it can be problematic to say the least.
I prefer to sheath after the ceiling joists are set, but before rafters are set. I have also seen several cases of buildings collapsing because the framer sheaths the roof before the walls. This is not a good idea where high winds are commonplace.
I think you should give sheathing down a chance. It may work for you. Take exposure into consideration too. The builders I framed for appreciated the fact that sheathing wasn't left to the weather as we moved from floor to floor. We sheathed 22x56 buildings 3 stories high off of pump jacks in 10 to 12 hours with 3 men.

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KentWhitten

I have always sheathed walls on the floor. I am also tempted to give unsheathed a chance on the next frame I do.

The reason I have is that I can't stand ladders or pump jacks. I sheathe all walls as much as I can especially 2nd floor. The only walls I don't are garage walls.

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giantfan

I haven't framed in years, wow.... many years.

But I do have a question for you guys that sheath before standing. How do you treat the floor joists? Do you come back later and fill that in? What about strength? I would think that a house sheathed after the frame is completed would be a little stronger since the sheathing will tie the first and second floor togeather in a typical 8-10' wall height. Does it matter?

KentWhitten

You can easily hang your ply down a foot or so when sheathing on the floor.

No matter how your process is, properly done sheathing is only done one way.

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Custom Cabinetry - Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Kennebunkport, Yarmouth, Falmouth, Cumberland, Ogunquit, Maine

Salmon Falls Cabinetry

Warren

Here is a tip for standing those huge, tall walls fully sheathed. I dont like to rely solely on blocks when I am lifting a wall that could cripple or kill me if the bottom lets go. Cut a couple pieces piece of lumber metal strapping about a foot long or so. Slide one end under the bottom plate, wrap around the bottom and nail it in with a couple of spikes. Nail the other end flat into the floor. This insures that the bottom of the wall isnt going anywhere while you stand it up.

oldfrt

DITTO!

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scottalan

Framerman,warren

Do you guys let your sheathing run down past the bottom plate to tie into the band?

jkfox624

I dont have near the exp those 2 have but we have hung it down before. Just gotta be careful that your floor is lvl and flat, your wall is square when you sheath it and the bottom plate is straight. You end up with a bow in your bottom plate or your floor isnt lvl, plumbing your walls becomes alot more difficult.

Framer53

Yes.

scottalan

What precautions do you use since putting a block on the band is no longer possible?

Framer53

First, we only lift walls with proper manpower. We very seldom if ever use blocks.
Just lift carefully so the bottom doesn't slide over existing floor.
Tall walls are our exception and now we try to lift them with either a lift or a crane. Too many bad things can and do happen when you lift tall walls by hand.

scottalan

Thanks for all the help guys I'm starting a house on Monday and I'll let you guys know how it goes

Chopper

No we don't. We build wall panels and deliver and set at jobsite. Sheeting is held flush at bottom plate. You can always nail a block the rim to prevent wall from kicking out at the bottom.

Warren

I have seen similar blocks knocked loose when the bottom slides and hits them. There is an incredible amount of force when one of these big walls slides against those blocks. We do stand a lot of the huge ones with a crane also. Many times I still use the straps even then. Crane guy likes it when the wall doesn't slide off and jostle the crane arm. You can't use the blocks anyway when you let the sheathing hang down to cover the band.

Kgmz

We sheath almost all walls on the floor and the sheathing is long to cover the rim, except for garage walls.

Here is how we keep it from sliding, been doing this for 30 years. We toe nail from the inside of wall through the bottom plate at a 45 degree angle. The nail will come out into the floor right at the corner of bottom plate at the floor, right on the chalk line. This way the wall will not slide and when you tip it up it is already locked to the line. And you don't have to remove the nails afterward.

Kind of hard to explain. I'll draw a quick pic of it.

scottalan

I would appreciate the drawing this sounds good

Kgmz

Here is the drawing.







We do this when lifting standard walls with wall jacks. Really tall walls we use our boom truck.

Also don't forget to set these nails before you sheath. We usually nail this off about every other or third stud bay after we get the frame nailed off. Then we nail it to the line, and then square up the frame, and then sheath. This way the bottom plate is nailed straight to the chalk line.

Warren

We do it that way too on "most" walls. My other method is for the huge deadly ones. Toe nails can only take so much force, not to mention that soft wood is very prone to split.

hughjazz

we always toe nail like the pic above. biggest wall to date was 60' with no problems with sliding. (knock on wood) the lumber strap idea sound good too! I also run the sheathing past the bottom plate.


2 VERY important things to remember when sheathing on the deck.

It's crutial that the bottom plate is laser straight.
It's equally important that the wall is squared perfectly before you nail/staple the sheathing on.

Even 1/4" out of square will screw you up. you will never get the wall plumb at the end.

On the walls that are (4') or less I will nail the sheet to the top plate and stand it like that. (sheet vertically) once it's plumb I nail the rest of the sheet to the studs. As it can be hard to square up a short wall. Not sure if that last part made sense