Among a long list of milestones you'll experience throughout your new home's construction, the framing process is certainly one of the most exciting and striking. It's time for you to see all of your hard work come to fruition. Your plans on paper begin to form rooms and hallways, giving you the opportunity to picture yourself setting up your life in your new home. Throughout this whole process, there are several important things going on that you might otherwise overlook, but are important to ensuring your home's energy efficiency and structural integrity. 

Here's what you can expect to see during your home's framing. 

Ladder Ts and California Corners

If you take time to walk through your home during the framing process, you'll notice a few odd looking framing techniques that are pivotal to building a tight home. The first of these is called a Ladder T. You'll see these on the inside of exterior walls where they intersect with an interior wall. This perpendicular point is designed for the interior wall stop just before the exterior wall, allowing us to install insulation inside the junction.  

On corners of your home where two exterior walls meet, we employ what is called a California Corner. You'll see this if you look at the inside of this intersection, where we leave space to apply insulation right up to the corner. Both of these techniques mentioned are part of our advanced framing techniques and are vital for providing you the most energy efficient home we can. 

Studs and Blocking

The vertical studs are the proverbial bones of your home. They provide structural support for your walls and roof so making sure they are installed properly is an important step in this process. If you walk through your home at this point, you may notice a stud that looks like it's bowing or rocking outward. Your superintendent will walk through your home after the framing is done and use a level to find studs that are doing just that and make note of them for the framer to come back and remedy. If the stud doesn't need to be replaced, the framer will do a plunge cut where they use a saw to cut diagonally into the stud and then straighten the wood. The now-straight board is reinforced with a brace the framer nails in to it, making it code compliant and stronger than it was before. 

These studs, which are on 16" centers, often have blocking in-between them. This blocking is installed anywhere that something will be mounted on the wall, including things like cabinetry, towel racks, toilet paper holders, and anything else that needs the extra support. 

Engineered Wood Product

You'll also find an array of engineered wood products used throughout the framing of your home. Garages, family rooms, bonus rooms, or any other large areas of open space in your plan require extra ceiling support to carry and disperse the load, so we use I-beams for this purpose. These I-beams span the stretch of open space and disperse the heavy weight of the framing and HVAC system in the ceiling and provide for straighter sheetrock runs, a nicer finish, and a ceiling that won't sag. 

Additional Advanced Techniques

If your plan has a second story, you'll see a thick subfloor in the rooms upstairs. These, when coupled with the I-beams underneath them, provide a sturdy and quiet second floor. Other advanced framing techniques we will use during the framing process of your home include a full OSB sheathing and pressure treated toe plates. The OSB sheathing goes around your entire home and adds to the structural integrity and creates a smooth surface for your exterior finishes. Your toe plates are pressure treated to prevent moisture from the concrete from seeping up and damaging the wood. 

To learn more about Tilson's advanced framing practices, visit our page dedicated to all things framing related.