Man this is hands down one of the most informative, well put together videos I’ve seen. Please keep making more shit like this. I’d subscribe again but it’s only letting me do it once. Thank you!
thank you soooooooo much, my license contractor-built a wall for me 32ft long with 3- 6X6 windows and 1 sliding door, so it was impossible to run studs from the floor up to the vaulted ceiling, in after about 1 year, just yesterday it was bunked out almost 2 inches at the stacked wall. NO STRIPS, NO SCREWS TO TIE TOPS AND BOTTOM PLATE TOGETHER. plans are to force the wall back vertical and use strips on each stud on both sides, and use long screws to tie both top seal and bottom seal together. any other advice to make this wall super strong?
I balloon-frame my tall walls with 2x6 DFL No.1 & BTR. 12 or 16 O.C. depending on specs and layout. Your studs should be lined up to bear the loads from the footing all the way up to the roof load. A continuous 19' -2" in overall height is much stronger than having a hinge in between. We also put blockings in between each stud pockets at 10' to give it extra support and keep our 19' studs from bowing. Back to the picture. How I would fix it would to just add more studs under the bearing points of the kings and jacks of the second floor windows. Use 1/2" gal bolts and nuts to tie the 2 walls together. The amount of materials and labor already spent building the wall probably isn't worth taking it down and rebuilding as a continuous wall. But its always a learning game. We make mistakes but we need to learn from it to be better on the next one. Now if we build 20 homes like that and one day a strong wind come by. Someone could get hurt, someone might lose their love ones. Always strive to be better than yesterday. Safe building out there. Good luck.
As a Master Carpenter myself .This would never be allowed in one of my homes . I have walked in others homes that had this " Style " of framing ... I know why many carpenters do it , And it's not solely because of saving money .There are many reasons . One is that if gives the illusion that more work has been done by building the lower half . That is good for getting a " Draw . Another reason is because to build a wall all the way through , Being built flat will be heavier and require strategically building that wall first . Though most times it is because . It requires forethought to calculate bearing heights to tie in a ceiling or a roof .. Yeah it's a hinge , That's what I always call them . I have had to remedy a few with by removing the top plate " Hinge " and in it's place bolt an LVL flat .. Then using it as a flower balcony or dressing it out later as a shelf . If the wall is already up , Reinforcing it with a large box , end to end and bolting LVLs again for some type of ornamental shelf . Some believe if the wall will have a brick veneer that it will reinforce the wall .. Nope .. Brick has to deal with wind as well !! .. If I have a situation whereas the wall can't be built on the floor and doesn't weigh a ton .. Scaffold and balloon frame top to bottom . Another thing about that wall that would drive me crazy .Is the use of individual headers in a series .One header in continuity is better structurally .. But that requires adding the RO's and jack packs . The common error with that is 2x4's in multiples add up to greater than 1.5 " , So that would have to be taken into account for the header size . Also I look at where the end of the header is .. Instead of imposing the load on a header below . I will extend the length of the header as far to the load path of king/jacks below . One house years ago . I was inspecting a house with the #1 architect in sales " Donald Gardner " .. He was very proud of his design and it was . But the framers had built the lower walls and stacked walls atop that went to vault with a structurally ridge " No collar ties " .. I said " Check this out " and grabbed the wall and shook it back and forth 3-4" ..His eyes popped out . We had to engineer steels flitch plates welded with perpendicular rotational supports . I have a reputation of building homes that can endure a nuclear blast . LOL.... Hardcore to the point that I am so picky to even the angle a nail is driven to get maximum strength . The sad fact is .. Most framers don't consider hinging , Many inspectors never look for it . Therefore there are many homes with buffeting walls and cracked drywall ..
This is great! Thank you for sharing your input. Your reasons why builders do this is eye opening and another reality I hadn’t even thought about. And nothing wrong with overdoing your work & being super picky lol. Love it
The other way this happens is remodeling or change orders. Things like shed dormers or gable dormers on an existing structure or mid build change orders.
Before looking at the video, things I see that could be wrong: The studs on the upper level don't match the studs on the lower level. They seem to be almost randomly placed. Maybe you could rely on the top plate of the lower wall to distribute the load and transfer it down, but probably not. I'm guessing here, but I suspect this was never engineered. Some carpenter just did it. I'm also wondering, "What the hell did the blueprints look like"? There doesn't seem to be any problem here that couldn't be fixed by adding a few studs on the lower level. How good is my guess?
Thanks, but I still don't get the lack of engineering on the original plan. I've built a few houses and drawn the plans for some, but I've always been required to have an engineering review for wind shear calcs, etc. I don't even try to figure out that stuff.
Ah I get it. So engineering reviews are something that don’t really happen in my state (Michigan) and many other states I’ve done work in. Mainly because the people who review drawings don’t have much experience beyond what they’ve see traditionally. In addition, engineering drawings are not required for projects under a specific sq footage so the engineering tends to fall under the responsibility of the contractor. And sometimes contractors are willing to take on things that they shouldn’t & it results in something like this. As time goes on & homes are having more custom features, these types of issues have been common for me to try & correct.
Fire the framer. Fire his assistant. Rebuild the wall. People complain about the cost or overreach of engineering, then do this to a wall that didn't need engineering.
Before I watch part 2 I’m just gonna say sure you can fix it, just sheath both sides of the wall with 3/4” advantech wit all sheets bridging the plate connections and nail it off like a shear wall. So what if it costs you $3000 for something that was completely avoidable, gives you an oddball wall thickness, and makes everyone that sees it wonder what moron did this?
@@JthaEngineer I guess I’ll just stick to being a retired electrician and avid home remodeler. You would really like some of the new house construction going on here in the area around Chattanooga. We have a two man building department which is twice as big as it was when I moved here 5 years ago so as you can guess there is a lot that doesn’t get caught. Most of the construction workers are Mexicans that don’t speak any English so communication is an issue. My house has a very complex hip roof that is 18’ high from the attic floor to the ridge. There are no rafter ties tying the roof to the walls but they tried to do their own version by nailing pieces of 2x4 between the rafters and the ceiling joists so if the wind ever lifts my roof off it will take the ceilings with it. They don’t do shear walls or anything close around the garage doors either. And they really like wet basements, wet crawl spaces, ductwork in unconditioned spaces, and plumbing outside of the thermal envelope. I’m almost done with all the work to get my 5 year old house up to code or better. I really like your videos, you do a great job of getting to the point and explains it clearly.
Man this is hands down one of the most informative, well put together videos I’ve seen. Please keep making more shit like this. I’d subscribe again but it’s only letting me do it once. Thank you!
thank you soooooooo much, my license contractor-built a wall for me 32ft long with 3- 6X6 windows and 1 sliding door, so it was impossible to run studs from the floor up to the vaulted ceiling, in after about 1 year, just yesterday it was bunked out almost 2 inches at the stacked wall. NO STRIPS, NO SCREWS TO TIE TOPS AND BOTTOM PLATE TOGETHER. plans are to force the wall back vertical and use strips on each stud on both sides, and use long screws to tie both top seal and bottom seal together. any other advice to make this wall super strong?
I balloon-frame my tall walls with 2x6 DFL No.1 & BTR. 12 or 16 O.C. depending on specs and layout. Your studs should be lined up to bear the loads from the footing all the way up to the roof load. A continuous 19' -2" in overall height is much stronger than having a hinge in between. We also put blockings in between each stud pockets at 10' to give it extra support and keep our 19' studs from bowing.
Back to the picture. How I would fix it would to just add more studs under the bearing points of the kings and jacks of the second floor windows. Use 1/2" gal bolts and nuts to tie the 2 walls together. The amount of materials and labor already spent building the wall probably isn't worth taking it down and rebuilding as a continuous wall. But its always a learning game. We make mistakes but we need to learn from it to be better on the next one. Now if we build 20 homes like that and one day a strong wind come by. Someone could get hurt, someone might lose their love ones. Always strive to be better than yesterday. Safe building out there. Good luck.
Appreciate your input!
As a Master Carpenter myself .This would never be allowed in one of my homes . I have walked in others homes that had this " Style " of framing ... I know why many carpenters do it , And it's not solely because of saving money .There are many reasons . One is that if gives the illusion that more work has been done by building the lower half . That is good for getting a " Draw . Another reason is because to build a wall all the way through , Being built flat will be heavier and require strategically building that wall first . Though most times it is because . It requires forethought to calculate bearing heights to tie in a ceiling or a roof .. Yeah it's a hinge , That's what I always call them . I have had to remedy a few with by removing the top plate " Hinge " and in it's place bolt an LVL flat .. Then using it as a flower balcony or dressing it out later as a shelf . If the wall is already up , Reinforcing it with a large box , end to end and bolting LVLs again for some type of ornamental shelf . Some believe if the wall will have a brick veneer that it will reinforce the wall .. Nope .. Brick has to deal with wind as well !! .. If I have a situation whereas the wall can't be built on the floor and doesn't weigh a ton .. Scaffold and balloon frame top to bottom . Another thing about that wall that would drive me crazy .Is the use of individual headers in a series .One header in continuity is better structurally .. But that requires adding the RO's and jack packs . The common error with that is 2x4's in multiples add up to greater than 1.5 " , So that would have to be taken into account for the header size . Also I look at where the end of the header is .. Instead of imposing the load on a header below . I will extend the length of the header as far to the load path of king/jacks below . One house years ago . I was inspecting a house with the #1 architect in sales " Donald Gardner " .. He was very proud of his design and it was . But the framers had built the lower walls and stacked walls atop that went to vault with a structurally ridge " No collar ties " .. I said " Check this out " and grabbed the wall and shook it back and forth 3-4" ..His eyes popped out . We had to engineer steels flitch plates welded with perpendicular rotational supports . I have a reputation of building homes that can endure a nuclear blast . LOL.... Hardcore to the point that I am so picky to even the angle a nail is driven to get maximum strength . The sad fact is .. Most framers don't consider hinging , Many inspectors never look for it . Therefore there are many homes with buffeting walls and cracked drywall ..
This is great! Thank you for sharing your input. Your reasons why builders do this is eye opening and another reality I hadn’t even thought about.
And nothing wrong with overdoing your work & being super picky lol. Love it
The other way this happens is remodeling or change orders. Things like shed dormers or gable dormers on an existing structure or mid build change orders.
Before looking at the video, things I see that could be wrong: The studs on the upper level don't match the studs on the lower level. They seem to be almost randomly placed. Maybe you could rely on the top plate of the lower wall to distribute the load and transfer it down, but probably not. I'm guessing here, but I suspect this was never engineered. Some carpenter just did it. I'm also wondering, "What the hell did the blueprints look like"? There doesn't seem to be any problem here that couldn't be fixed by adding a few studs on the lower level. How good is my guess?
Pretty close. It definitely required a lot more work though
Thanks, but I still don't get the lack of engineering on the original plan. I've built a few houses and drawn the plans for some, but I've always been required to have an engineering review for wind shear calcs, etc. I don't even try to figure out that stuff.
Ah I get it. So engineering reviews are something that don’t really happen in my state (Michigan) and many other states I’ve done work in. Mainly because the people who review drawings don’t have much experience beyond what they’ve see traditionally. In addition, engineering drawings are not required for projects under a specific sq footage so the engineering tends to fall under the responsibility of the contractor. And sometimes contractors are willing to take on things that they shouldn’t & it results in something like this. As time goes on & homes are having more custom features, these types of issues have been common for me to try & correct.
Thanks! This kind of vid should get more looks and likes, but RUclips seems to be optimized for providing weird shit rather than useful stuff.
Jay, is your lic good in California>
Unfortunately I’m not licensed in California right now but it’s coming!
Fire the framer. Fire his assistant. Rebuild the wall. People complain about the cost or overreach of engineering, then do this to a wall that didn't need engineering.
Before I watch part 2 I’m just gonna say sure you can fix it, just sheath both sides of the wall with 3/4” advantech wit all sheets bridging the plate connections and nail it off like a shear wall. So what if it costs you $3000 for something that was completely avoidable, gives you an oddball wall thickness, and makes everyone that sees it wonder what moron did this?
Part 2 will have you disappointed
@@JthaEngineer I guess I’ll just stick to being a retired electrician and avid home remodeler. You would really like some of the new house construction going on here in the area around Chattanooga. We have a two man building department which is twice as big as it was when I moved here 5 years ago so as you can guess there is a lot that doesn’t get caught. Most of the construction workers are Mexicans that don’t speak any English so communication is an issue. My house has a very complex hip roof that is 18’ high from the attic floor to the ridge. There are no rafter ties tying the roof to the walls but they tried to do their own version by nailing pieces of 2x4 between the rafters and the ceiling joists so if the wind ever lifts my roof off it will take the ceilings with it. They don’t do shear walls or anything close around the garage doors either. And they really like wet basements, wet crawl spaces, ductwork in unconditioned spaces, and plumbing outside of the thermal envelope. I’m almost done with all the work to get my 5 year old house up to code or better. I really like your videos, you do a great job of getting to the point and explains it clearly.
It's a good example of a bad example
I see what you did there 😉