Framing

Framing

Every finish in the house is only as straight as the frame behind it.

Cabinets that sit flat, doors that stay closed and tile that does not crack all start at the framing stage. We frame square, plumb and level, we crown the studs the same way, and we block where the trim, the railings and the wall cabinets are going to land.

We frame for our own builds and we frame for other contractors and homeowners who want the shell put up properly and then take it from there.

Square now, or crooked forever

Framing is the last chance anybody has to make a house straight. Every trade after us inherits whatever we leave: the cabinet installer scribing a filler to a bowed wall, the tiler chasing a floor that falls half an inch across a bathroom, the door that has to be planed because the opening racked. None of them can fix it, they can only hide it.

So we check as we go rather than at the end. Plates snapped off a line, walls plumbed and braced before they are sheathed, crowns on the joists all run the same way, openings headered to the span and checked for square with a tape across the diagonals. It is slower on the day and invisible afterwards, which is exactly why it gets skipped.

How the job runs

1. Deck first, and dead flat. Everything above copies the floor system, so it gets levelled before a wall goes up.
2. Walls laid out on the deck. Plates cut and marked together, so openings land where the drawing says and not where the tape drifted.
3. Stand, plumb, brace. Braced properly, not tacked, because a wall that moves after sheathing takes the whole corner with it.
4. Headers to the span. Sized for what is over them, with the right number of jacks under each end.
5. Sheathe and nail to schedule. Nailing pattern is structure, not a formality. It is what holds the building in a storm.
6. Walk it with a level before the next trade. Anything out gets fixed while it is still framing and still cheap.

What the job includes

• Floor systems, joists and subfloor
• Exterior and interior wall framing
• Roof framing, rafters and trusses
• Beams, headers and load bearing changes
• Blocking for cabinets, railings and fixtures
• Sheathing and weather barrier

Get a Free Estimate