DISCUSSION Sheathing Walls On The Deck Or After Standing?

So Im from the northeast and generally we square and sheath our walls on the deck and then stand them up and brace them. What do you all do? Give your location and how you do it. Im curious about different techniques

Pretty much the same here in PA. There are always exceptions; partial sheathing if doing the whole thing would make it too difficult to lift, for instance. Sustained high winds can make it a bit chancy, too.

All else being equal, it's a heckuva lot more efficient sheathing on the flat rather than vertical.

Mixed bag out west. I see most residential framers sheathing after plumb and line. Could be a product of concrete quality of slab on grade or neglect in shimming joist/rim/sole plate of raised floor.
I grout all plates before framing and bolt the sole plate down, frame with a dead plate and shear all walls flat. Stack frame. A bit of work in the beginning but it pays dividends on commercial and multi story structures.
But even then, at some point, have to get out there and install fillers, nail off flyers etc. can usually catch that when the skins are going up and tight schedule inspections to align with the completion.


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That’s how I was taught but as a loner I have to sheet after the Wall is up, otherwise it’s too heavy.

I watch the production framers when there are new houses going up around me and even on 4 and 5 man crews they’re now sheathing after standing. Only thing I can think is the skill level is requiring it. Maybe the foreman thinks he can layout and slap up the walls then leave the sheathing for his low skilled help while he and his #1 guy move on????

I think your on to something there.
Framing out here is so compartmentalized maybe they leave it for the “Panel” guy. Who seems to be the same guy that sheaths decks and installs HD’s/floor to floor straps etc.


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We're only a three man crew, and if we're all on deck we sheath and stand the walls... But if we're broken up that day, then we frame the walls, brace inside, and then the laborer sheaths the wall later or within the next couple days.

I'm still trying to convince the boss into letting us sheath AND wrap the walls, plus getting the gables sheathed and wrapped when they come off the truck...
I hate sheathing gables off the ladder.

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sheathing gables off a ladder? screw that. thats just plain stupid and a waste of time and unnecessary safety risk.
find a better outfit to work for...

For the most part, we sheath on the deck. One exception is garage walls. For some reason they always seem to be messed up. For those, I stand them up, bare, then sheath them afterwards.

Regarding sheathing off an extension ladder. I've done it. Not happy about it. Sometimes you don't have the equipment to get it done, right. Have to go with what you've got.
Of course that was in my younger years.

We always use wall jacks. Don't have to worry about the weight.

you also have to consider "production" vs "custom"... different approaches with different manpower

On easy stuff, sheet and tyvek on the ground. It can be tricky to get the wall square to sheet, but it saves a lot of energy versus sheeting from a lift.

On single story or garages, it’s not too bad to sheet after the walls are up.

I have some wall jacks, I’ve ever used em though, the gradall does a better job. The biggest I’ve built were 16’ tall and 32’ long for a 120’ shop, framed, sheeted, and papered on the ground then lifted them with the gradall, got to put your straps apart enough to keep from racking the wall, but it worked out pretty slick.


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For a treehouse, it's definitely better to sheet before standing.


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It's very rare to sheath walls when they are on the ground here. Yes because the slabs are never perfect.


Mike.
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I came from several hundred home tracts as a lead. There are many times the whole wall doesn't get shear. Stucco doesn't require it. However, we had a snapline plate and detail crew, sheeting crew, a hardware crew, a beam crew, stackers. Plumb and line crew, Etc. We were framing a complete house a day. It has everything to do with speed.


Mike.
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We found it much faster to sheathe everything on the ground if at all possible. less time consuming.
As far as the rest of your crews that are specialized, we just sent the laborers back to nail the hardware.

Then again we would seldom build more that one house in a subdivision at a time.
We were all over the area framing.

Ever since we purchased Wall jacks we’ve been sheathing everything on the slab before standing. Make sure the stem is level, square the wall and shear it. Saves us a ton of time. Two of us just finished framing a 1700 sq.ft. house with 9’ walls. With wall jacks we were able to build 25’ walls with full shear.
There is such a shortage of framers here we’ve had to frame the last four houses ourselves just to maintain a schedule.

All you guys talking about wrapping on the deck....


No nailing inspections?


Delta

They do a quick check around here... All you have to show them is a small section of wall. Easy enough to roll back the paper a bit.
Unless there has been a specific nail pattern called out on the plans, then the paper is left off.

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Nailing inspections here are critical. The hardware we use is crazy as well. It's all for siesmic. Our inspectors walk every wall to make sure no nails are too deep and properly spaced. Each wall can have different nailing schedules. It just depends on the engineering.


Mike.
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Yep, I'll sometimes have 4 or 5 different nailing patterns.

And the inspectors are very strict on depth. Overdriven nails will get called every time.


Delta

You California guys have to go through so much just to build a house.
No nailing inspections here.
Most of the country does not have the codes you have to work with.