Parts for this step · tap one to find it
A one-story room, 20 × 14 ft to the outside of the framing, on the concrete slab from the foundation guide. The anchor bolts and hold-down rods were cast into the slab where the plans put them. Here the walls are 2x6 studs at 16 in on center, with a window in three walls and a door in the front. The parts are below, in the order the steps use them.
≈1 week for a small crew on a room this size, after the slab has cured
This guide shows the sequence, not a design. Stud size and spacing, headers, shear walls, nailing and hold-downs all come from the approved plans. 2x6 walls are common in California because of the insulation the energy code calls for; some plans use 2x4 or 24 in spacing.
The crew measures from the plans and snaps a chalk line on the slab for the inside face of every wall, then checks the layout is square by measuring both diagonals: when they match, the corners are square.
≈2–3 hours · Diagonals: ≈24 ft 5 in corner to corner at the outside of the framing (≈23 ft 1⅝ in between the inside chalk lines)
The bottom plates touch concrete, so they are pressure-treated lumber. A foam sill gasket goes down first to seal the gap. Each plate is drilled where the anchor bolts and hold-down rods come up and set over them, then every bolt gets a square plate washer and a nut.
≈half a day · Code minimum: bolts no more than 6 ft apart, at least 2 per plate piece, each within 12 in of a plate end (and at least 7 bolt diameters from it) · shear walls are often closer, per the plans
Parts: ≈70 ft × Sill gasket (foam seal under the plate); 2 × 20 ft + 2 × 14 ft × Bottom plate, pressure-treated 2x6; 16 × Square plate washer and nut on each anchor bolt
Bolt size and spacing come from the plans. In most of Southern California the code requires square plate washers (at least 3 × 3 in, 0.229 in thick) on these bolts. Nails, washers and hardware touching treated lumber are hot-dip galvanized or stainless.
Every stud is marked on the plates before anything goes up: 16 in on center, measured from the corner of the building, so the 4 ft sheathing sheets later land with their edges on studs. Openings get their kings, jacks and cripples marked too. The top plates are tacked beside the bottom plates and marked at the same time, so every stud lines up top and bottom.
≈1–2 hours · 16 in on center from the outside corner (short walls: from the face of the long walls’ sheathing, since their sheets lap the corner) · panel edges every 48 in
The wall is built flat on the slab, then the crew tips it up onto the bolted bottom plate and nails the studs to it. (Some crews build the wall with its plate and drop it over the bolts; both are common.) Each opening is framed with a king stud on each side, a jack stud under each end of the header, and for a window, a rough sill with short cripple studs below it. The plate is cut out at the door once the wall is standing.
≈half a day · Door rough opening 38 × 82⅞ in above the slab · windows 48 × 48 in · studs 92-5/8 in precut
Parts: 13 × Stud, 2x6 precut (92-5/8 in); 4 × King stud (full height, beside an opening); 4 × Jack stud (holds up the header); 2 × Header over an opening (size per plans); 1 × Rough sill under a window; 3 × Cripple stud (short stud under a window); 2 × Top plate, 2x6
Header sizes come from the plans; here they are two 2x12s with a spacer or rigid insulation to fill out the 2x6 wall, and they fill the space up to the top plate, so no cripples are needed above them.
Same method for the back wall: built flat, tipped up and nailed to its bottom plate. At each end of the long walls, one more stud is set in line with the side wall’s inside face, so the long wall’s drywall has something to nail to at the corner.
≈half a day · 20 ft wall · 1 window · splice in the top plate at 12 ft
Parts: 15 × Stud, 2x6 precut (92-5/8 in); 2 × King stud (full height, beside an opening); 2 × Jack stud (holds up the header); 1 × Header over an opening (size per plans); 1 × Rough sill under a window; 3 × Cripple stud (short stud under a window); 2 × Top plate, 2x6
The two side walls fit between the long walls. Each one stands on its bolted plate with its studs on the layout marks, its end posts doubled for the hold-downs, and the corners are nailed together so the walls act as one box.
≈1 day · Two 13 ft 1 in side walls · one 36 × 36 in window · doubled end posts
Parts: 23 × Stud, 2x6 precut (92-5/8 in); 2 × King stud (full height, beside an opening); 2 × Jack stud (holds up the header); 1 × Header over an opening (size per plans); 1 × Rough sill under a window; 2 × Cripple stud (short stud under a window); 2 × Top plate, 2x6
Now the walls are made straight and true. Each one is checked plumb with a long level, and a string line along the top keeps it straight. Temporary diagonal braces hold everything in place until the sheathing and roof framing make the building stiff on its own.
≈2–4 hours · Plumb within about ⅛ in over the wall height · braces stay until the roof is sheathed
Parts: 8 × Temporary brace and block
Braces are screwed or nailed to blocks fastened to the slab, never to anything that moves.
A second top plate goes on top of the first. At the corners it laps over the wall it meets, tying the walls together, and its splices are kept away from the splices in the plate below. Many crews nail it on while the wall is still flat, leaving the corners open for the laps.
≈2–3 hours · Splices offset at least 24 in (code minimum; the plans can require more) · nailed on both sides of each joint per the nailing schedule · here 4 ft apart
Parts: 6 pieces × Second top plate (double top plate)
The double top plate also carries the rafters or trusses, so it is set straight and level.
Structural sheathing turns the walls into shear walls that resist wind and earthquakes. Sheets are 4 ft wide and the studs were laid out from the corner, so every edge lands on framing. They run from the bottom plate to the second top plate, with about ⅛ in left between sheets. The nailing must match the shear wall schedule on the plans: nails close together along every sheet edge and farther apart in the middle.
≈1 day · 18 sheets cut to fit · ≈550 sq ft of wall before openings (≈490 sq ft net) · nail size and spacing per the shear wall schedule
Parts: 20 (18 + 2 spare) × Structural sheathing (shear panel), 4×9 sheet
Plywood or OSB, and its thickness, come from the plans. Nails must not be overdriven through the face of the sheet.
Where the plans call for them (here, at the four corners of the side walls), a hold-down ties the doubled end post to a steel rod cast into the slab, so that end of the wall is held down when an earthquake or strong wind pushes the wall sideways. It is screwed or bolted to the post and the nut is tightened on the rod.
≈2–3 hours · Hold-down locations, type and fasteners per the plans and the maker
Parts: 4 × Hold-down on a corner post, nutted to its rod
Before anything covers it, the inspector checks the shear-wall nailing, hold-downs and anchor-bolt nuts against the plans. Depending on the city, this is its own visit or happens once the roof is sheathed, together with the roof-nailing inspection. The full framing inspection comes after the roof framing and the plumbing, electrical and mechanical rough-ins.
Inspection visit ≈1 hour · Shear wall inspection · roof nailing · then framing inspection after the rough-ins
Watch the roof framing guide for the next step: rafters, ceiling joists and sheathing on top of these walls.
That’s a framed room: bolted to the slab, plumb and braced, tied together with a double top plate, and sheathed into shear walls, ready for the roof.