Floor Joist And Wall Framing

The exterior walls of a house are usually the main load bearing walls but some interior walls may also bear loads.

Floor joist and wall framing.

If the joists run perpendicular to the wall an adjustment should not be necessary. They are covered with subflooring panels of plywood or oriented strandboard osb to complete the floor s structural assembly and create the solid continuous platform on which you install tile carpet or other finish flooring. Align the wall in its desired position between the parallel joists snugging its top plate flush against the blocking. Joist spans and spacing are determined by engineering that is published by the manufacturer.

Large openings in the wall are made for windows and doors. True floor joist span calculations can only be made by a structural engineer or contractor. If the joists are parallel to the new wall adjust the layout so that the wall is directly under a joist. Double plating is most common on load bearing walls unless the roof rafters or trusses and floor joists stack directly over the studs in the wall then a single top plate can be used.

As a general rule floor joists should be spaced 16 inches 41 cm apart for maximum stability. Tilt the wall on its bottom plate and lift the wall upright. This framing system can also be used for framing storage shed floors this floor framing system is typical over basements and crawl spaces. The top plate can be either single or double.

Assemble the wall on the ground sandwiching studs between the plates and fastening the studs to the plates with two framing nails at each end. This article teaches you how to build a floor for a house on a concrete foundation. Joist spans sections r502 3 1 1 and r502 3 1 2 of the international residential code include tables that list acceptable spans for floor joists. The exact number of floor joists you ll need will depend on the size of the floor.

Floor joists spaced on regular intervals span the areas between supports such as walls foundations girders and beams. Framing a floor using i joists. This sample table gives minimum floor joist sizes for joists spaced at 16 inches and 24 inches on center o c for 2 grade lumber with 10 pounds per square foot of dead load and 40 pounds of live load which is typical of normal residential construction. When a load is applied to a joist the wood fibers along the bottom edge go into tension and those along the top go into compression fig.

Normal spacing is 16 inches on center from center to center though some floors may have joists on 12 inch or 24 inch centers. Joists are spaced at regular intervals much like the studs in a wall frame.