Wall framing

Today we set out for the wall frames.

We ran our string lines to the building line again.

We used two pieces of timber to the width of the wall frame timber and lined it up with the B.L string.

We checked the plans to work out where our frames will sit, working from the back of the house to the front. The plans have numbers on the wall frames that get matched to the numbers on the frames.

Before taking the frames up to the house we work out which way round the frame will stand and we can tell this by where the lintel is on the frame. With framing walls with no lintel or door frame we can tell which way round it goes by the numbers the framers put on for references. Also the first framing nog’s from the bottom plate needs to be at a height of 800mm.

We learnt a great way to lift the frames by using our hammer claw and whacking it in at the top above a stud and lifting, carry the frames to the flat surface of the floor and slide it on edge to the position it will sit.

We needed bracing timber and blocks cut to support the frames so they wouldn’t fall over, from just under the top plate at roughly a 45^o angle. We fixed it at the top and adjusted it at the bottom until it was plumb on the level. We would later go back and redo the plumbing but for now we would get the walls straight and very importantly secure.  

As we were going on semester break we needed to put temporary braces on the corner frames for extra support.

Back from semester break...

With all our framing up we needed to move and adjust the walls to get them in the exact position according to the plans. Because the walls where quite hard to move once they were sitting against other frames we used blocks and wedges to move them.

We discovered we had problems with the back bearers as they stuck out past the building line. The nog’s on the boundaries were too long so we had to knock them out and redo them. 

We got under the house and removed the nog’s and wedged in timber to push the boundary joists into line with the B.L and we used the string line and dodger blocks to get it straight.

Although this was a pain in the arse it was a good exercise.

To plumb our walls we used braces, blocks and wedges to straighten the frames to the Level.

We used string lines and dodger blocks along the top of the frames, work out which way the frame needed to move to be level. We used the bracing blocks and wedges method.

We know the bath is going to be perfectly square on its edges, so the bathroom area needed to be perfectly square as the bath would need to fit.

We measured to the plans all dimensions of the bathroom, measuring along the floor from bottom plate to bottom plate and along the top to make sure we had the room size correct.

Once we had all our framing plumbed we could start fixing the double top plates. These went round the entire tops of the top plates but we needed to leave gaps for the ceiling battens along the inside framing.

The ceiling battens needed to be max of 400 centres and needed to be in a staggered pattern. We cut the ceiling battens where they would come to sit on an adjacent top plate, so they would end half way along the width of a top plate. We would then run the next ceiling battern on from that point.

Today we learned how to tie stirrups for a strip footing.

We used our nippers to twist the ties nice and tightly. A good strong footing will be beneficial when the concrete gets poured in for all the steel to hold its own and not move.

We fixed some pieces of timber at equal spaces along a bench and lay the four rods on top. We then slid on the stirrups. We used a waterproof chalk to mark the spacing along the rods and moved the stirrups to those marks and dropped two rods to make a box shape.

The ties are bent over the D12 bars and wrapped around the stirrups tightly.

 We used a steel bending tool to bend the starter rods, and we tie them in also.

We learned about how dangerous steel is, and on a building site to always be aware of work thats going on around us.

When a job is finished and the steel is no longer needed we need to remove it from site to avoid any future accidents. Grass can grow up and around steel making it almost invisible and this is very dangerous when walking around the site if steel is left like this. When the steel is running vertically we need to put a plastic cap on the top so it stands out visibly and protects body parts from coming in contact with the end of the steel rods.