You know, it is the neatest thing , how you can take 2x4s and plywood and create a wall. If you have never built one I strongly recommend you give it a shot. Lets make it easy, an 8x8 wall , you will need seven 8 foot 2x4s (one for top plate , one for bottom or sole plate) , and five studs to be face nailed between the two plates inside the wall. You will also need 4 sheets of 4x8 plywood. About a pound of 16d nails and a pound of 8d nails.
If I have lost you, I will start over.
We can talk about a few things that builders know and that you can learn to make things make sense.
Plywood - this is 4 foot by 8 ft panels of wood made by sawing very thin sheets of lumber and flattening it out and gluing it together, alternating the grain of the sheets so it makes a airtight and strong piece of material to build with.
Framing lumber- this is usually 1.5 inch thick x 4 , 5 , 6 , 8 , 10 ,or 12 inches x 8 , 10 , 12 , or 16 feet long. It is made of sawn up trees, usually pine, or fir, or spruce. It is the bones of the house.
Grain -the orientation of the strands of wood fiber that make up trees, boards , and lumber. The grain runs up and down the tree.
2x4 - Lumber is cut into certain dimensions when green and then dries and is planed down to its finished size. So a pine 2x4 is a section of a tree that is cut in a sawmill into a 2'x4' block then dried in a kiln and then surfaced in a plane to a 1.5x 3.5 inch board.
Green wood is considered "green" when it is freshly cut , before it has been dried. Green wood is heavier and not as good to build with as dried wood. Its also less effecient to burn in a stove. Green wood shrinks when you dry it.
Kiln is a large heated building with fans in it that is like an oven for cooking all the excess moisture out of lumber to make it stronger and better for using to build with . Kiln dried lumber doesn't rot as quickly and it does not shrink or grow. It holds nails better and glue sticks to it better. Ideal moisture content for hardwoods is 7-9 % when used for lumber or building.
Plane - a tool that creates a flat smooth surface on a piece of lumber.
Moisture is a part of living things - in the case of lumber the amount of moisture effects strength and durability. To determine the percent of moisture in a large piece of wood you can cut a small piece, weigh it on a very exact digital scale , put it in a microwave and cook it at 30 seconds intervals until it stops losing weight. Then subtract the weight of the small piece after it s dried from its weight before you started drying it and then divide that amount by the initial weight. So if yo have a 10 gram sample and microwave it until it stops losing weight, weigh it again to see it now weighs 8 grams that means 2 grams of water has evaporated out and the initial moisture content was 20%
Studs - these are the boards inside the wall running from the sole plate to the top plate -these are the bones of any wall or building.
Plates - these are the long boards that the studs and corners are either toe nailed or face nailed into they are marked while still together so that the studs are all run straight up and down between them.
Toe nailing - when the end of a board is nailed into the edge of another by nailing nails at an angle from the edges through he end and into the edge of the board it is to attach to.
Face nailing- nailing completely through the face of one board and into the end of another board.
Face of a board - the wide side of the board on a 2x4 it is the 3.5 inch side
Edge of a board - the narrow side of the board on a2x4 it is the 1.5 inch side.
Length of a board - boards, when purchased from the lumberyard, are usually not the exact length they are indicated for . A 8ft board is likely to be 8ft and 1/4 or 8 ft 1/2 inch. This is to allow for squaring them and because there is some shrinkage in the kilns.
End of a board- the end of the board - you should always square your framing lumber by using a carpenters square and pencil to mark a straight line near the end of the board then, with a tape measure, measure the length you need & mark it for length, then use your square again to draw a line to show where to cut this end of the board. If you have no square your plywood sheets are precut to square, just lint the edge of the board with the edge of the plywood and line the end of the board up just past the perpendicular edge of the plywood and mark a line.
Carpenters square or framing square this is a tool used to mark a ninety degree angle on a board as most boards when they come from the sawmill are apt to be cut at angles slightly different than 90 degrees they are also cut at slightly different lengths
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Squaring is the act of marking and cutting the end of a board at a 90 degree angle to its edge.
16" OC or 24" OC - on center -this indicates the distance between the outside of your outside studs and the center of your next stud. You go with the center of the studs because you want your sheeting material - or what covers the wall to break on a stud so at 4ft or 8ft and you want the load evenly distributed over the wall.
Plumb -straight up and down - not leaning in or out. left or right. a balanced weight on a string will make the string show a plumb line. A bubble level can also show plumb.
Level - a level shows a line perpendicular to plumb and a bubble level also shows level
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Wall - what you are building-- it consists of a top plate joined through studs to a sole plate and covered with sheeting.
So now to build a wall you need to square the end and cut your plates to length and mark them to nail the studs at 24"centers. Then lay out top plate and sole plate 7'9" apart then cut the 5 studs and facenail them in with your 16d nails through the plates into the studs as marked for 24"OCs then stand the wall up where you need a wall and nail through the sole and exterior studs into the subfloor or into the adjoining wall to keep your wall standing (make sure it is plumb). Then nail your sheeting up with it joining on the middle stud. This should be a solid wall.
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