Traditional vs Advanced Framing - Details
Summary
TLDRIn this episode of the Build Show, the focus is on advanced framing techniques, also known as smart framing, for constructing energy-efficient homes. Architect Steve Basic explains the decision-making process behind framing choices that align with overall project goals. The discussion covers various framing details, such as 24-inch on-center framing, header pockets, and the use of double top plates. Emphasis is placed on the importance of insulation, with strategies like using a slider to elevate the heel height for better insulation and combining closed-cell foam with blown fiberglass. The goal is to demonstrate that even a commodity house can be built with high performance and energy efficiency without excessive costs.
Takeaways
- 🏠 **Advanced Framing vs. Traditional Framing**: The discussion differentiates between advanced framing and traditional framing, emphasizing the importance of choosing the right framing technique for a specific project.
- 👷♂️ **Smart Framing**: Framing is considered a crucial system within a house, and 'advanced framing' is referred to as 'smart framing' to highlight the intelligent design choices made from the start.
- 🔍 **24-inch On-Center Framing**: The project uses a 24-inch on-center framing system, which aligns with the overall design and functionality of the house.
- 🏗️ **Clear Spanning with Trusses**: The garage features clear spanning trusses, eliminating the need for posts within the garage for a more open space.
- 🧱 **Outside Wall Framing**: The decision to frame the outside walls first and then add the roof allows for quick enclosure and weather protection, facilitating indoor work in a controlled environment.
- 🛠️ **Efficient Header Construction**: The use of appropriately-sized headers and header plates ensures a flush finish for trim and windows, streamlining the construction process.
- 🔝 **Insulation Strategy**: The script discusses the importance of insulation, particularly the use of a 'slider' to elevate the heel height for better insulation above the wall.
- 📏 **Double Top Plates**: Despite advanced framing often advocating for single top plates, the project uses double top plates for ease of construction and to maintain a traditional framing mindset.
- 🛑 **Sheathing Breaks for Accessibility**: The decision to break sheathing at a convenient level ensures that work is done efficiently and safely, without the need for ladders or scaffolding.
- 🔩 **Header Hangers for Support**: The use of header hangers provides additional support for headers, especially in window openings that would otherwise require double jacks.
Q & A
What is the main difference between advanced framing and traditional framing discussed in the script?
-Advanced framing, also referred to as smart framing, focuses on making decisions appropriate for the overall project rather than just saving lumber or money. It's about designing the framing system from the start that best suits the house's overall package.
Why did the architect choose a 24-inch on-center framing system for the house?
-The 24-inch on-center framing system was chosen because it worked well with the overall system package of the house, allowing for clear spanning of the garage without posts and bringing the entire house load down to the outside walls.
What is the significance of having no posts in the garage and house?
-Having no posts in the garage and house allows for a clear span and more open space. It also means the entire house load is brought down to the outside walls, which is beneficial for the structural integrity and design of the building.
Why is the framing referred to as 'advanced' or 'smart' framing in the context of this project?
-The framing is referred to as 'advanced' or 'smart' because it's not just about saving material; it's about making thoughtful decisions that align with the overall design and structural needs of the house, creating a more efficient and effective building system.
How does the decision to frame the outside walls first impact the construction process?
-Framing the outside walls first allows the house to be closed in quickly with a roof and sheathing, making it weather-tight. This creates a controlled environment for further construction work, similar to a factory setting, which can improve the quality and efficiency of the construction process.
What is the purpose of the header pocket mentioned in the script?
-The header pocket is created by using an appropriately-sized header with a 2 by 6 plate underneath. This setup allows for the trim and other finishing elements to sit flush with the header, ensuring a neat and professional finish.
Why is the 'slider' used in the trusses above the garage?
-The 'slider' is used to elevate the heel height of the trusses, allowing for more insulation to be added above the wall plate. This increases the insulation value and overall energy efficiency of the wall system.
What is the reasoning behind using double top plates in the framing?
-Double top plates are used to help straighten out the walls and maintain a traditional framing approach that the framer is comfortable with. This also allows for better alignment and finishing of the walls without compromising the thermal efficiency of the house.
How does the placement of the sheathing breaks impact the construction process?
-Placing the sheathing breaks in the middle of the wall allows the framers to work at a comfortable level without the need for ladders or scaffolding. This makes the construction process more efficient and safer for the workers.
What is the strategy for insulation in the walls of this house?
-The strategy involves using an inch of closed cell foam on the inside and filling the rest of the cavity with blown fiberglass. The key focus is on the insulation on the outside of the house, as it significantly improves the R-value of both the cavity and the framing.
Why is it important to have the exterior sheathing on the outside of the house?
-Having the exterior sheathing on the outside of the house improves the thermal efficiency by providing a continuous insulation layer without any breakage. This effectively more than doubles the R-value at the opaque framing areas, enhancing the overall energy performance of the house.
Outlines
🏠 Advanced Framing vs. Traditional Framing
The video script discusses the concept of 'good bones' in a house, which refers to its framing. The build show focuses on comparing advanced framing to traditional framing, moving beyond the standard debate of 16-inch or 24-inch centers. The guest, Steve Basic, an architect, explains his choice of advanced framing for a specific project, emphasizing it as a 'smart framing' decision. He discusses the benefits of a 24-inch on-center framing system, which aligns with the overall project goals. The script also touches on the importance of the framing system in relation to the entire house structure, including the absence of posts in the garage and house, allowing for clear spanning and efficient load distribution to the outside walls. The conversation highlights the idea of advanced framing as a smart design choice rather than merely a cost-saving measure.
🛠️ Framing Techniques and Insulation Strategies
This section delves into the specifics of advanced framing, with a focus on the 24-inch on-center framing for the outside walls and the alignment with trusses. The script mentions the absence of extra jack studs, the use of a header plate, and the creation of a header pocket for better trim alignment. The discussion also covers the sequence of construction, allowing each trade to perform their tasks at the appropriate time, such as framers framing and insulators insulating. The script introduces the concept of a 'slider' in truss design, which elevates the heel height for better insulation. The conversation contrasts single and double top plates, with the latter chosen for ease of construction and traditional framing familiarity. The script also discusses the decision to place sheathing breaks at a convenient height to facilitate blocking and other tasks. Lastly, the use of a header hanger is mentioned as a way to support headers without needing additional jack studs.
🌡️ Insulation and Building Efficiency
The final paragraph discusses the insulation strategy for the house, which includes using an inch of closed-cell foam on the inside and blown fiberglass to fill the cavity, in addition to the one-inch zip sheathing on the outside. The script emphasizes the importance of the exterior sheathing in improving thermal efficiency, as it affects both the framing and the cavity's R-value. The conversation highlights the significance of the framing, cavity, and windows as the three major components of a wall's thermal performance. The script also mentions the use of triple-glazed windows with a higher R-value than standard windows. The discussion concludes with advice from a building scientist on the best wall construction, which is to maximize insulation on the exterior of the house. The video ends with a call to action for viewers to follow the project, subscribe to the channel, and explore more content related to the house and its builder.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Advanced Framing
💡Traditional Framing
💡Framing System
💡Trusses
💡Insulation
💡R-Value
💡Sheathing
💡Header
💡Double Top Plates
💡Continuous Insulation
💡Energy Efficiency
Highlights
Advanced framing, also known as smart framing, is a method that focuses on making appropriate decisions for the overall project rather than just saving lumber or money.
A 24-inch on-center framing system was chosen for its compatibility with the overall system package of the house.
The house features clear spanning trusses, eliminating the need for posts in the garage and house, allowing for an open layout.
The decision to frame the outside walls first and quickly weatherproof the house creates a controlled environment for indoor construction.
Studs are aligned with the trusses, and headers are appropriately sized to create header pockets for better trim alignment.
The use of an LVL header and a 2x6 plate underneath enhances the structural integrity of the headers.
A 'slider' is used to elevate the heel height for better insulation, increasing the insulation space from 4 inches to 10 inches.
Double top plates are used instead of single to aid in wall straightening and maintain a traditional framing approach.
Sheathing is placed on the outside of the house to improve thermal efficiency, which affects both the framing and the cavity.
The framer's choice to use double top plates is driven by ease of use and traditional framing practices, despite advanced framing techniques.
Sheathing breaks are strategically placed for worker convenience, avoiding the need for ladders or scaffolding.
A simple header hanger is used to assist in carrying the header load, eliminating the need for a double jack in the framing.
Insulation plans include an inch of closed-cell foam and blown fiberglass to fill the cavity, ensuring high thermal performance.
The importance of the continuous insulation on the outside of the house is emphasized, as it significantly improves the R-value.
Windows are triple glazed with a U-value closer to 0.7 or 0.8, which is better than the usual 0.3, enhancing the overall wall performance.
The house is designed to be energy-efficient and well-built without being overly expensive, demonstrating that commodity houses can be built to high standards.
The house is built on a reasonable budget, showcasing that advanced framing techniques can be cost-effective.
The project is called the Hybrid House, and it incorporates smart design and building practices for optimal performance.
Transcripts
have you ever heard someone say that
house has good bones what are they
talking about of course it's the framing
super important for a well-built house
to start with a well framed house on the
build show today we're gonna talk about
advanced framing versus traditional
framing and go beyond the typical
discussion which is just should I frame
my house on 16 inch or 24 inch centers
like you see here I've got a special
guest for today's build show it let's
get going
alright guys let me introduce you to my
friend Steve basic Steve you're the
architect on this project and I want you
to tell us a little bit about why you
chose to do advanced framing on this
particular house all right so we're
gonna start out with a little pet peeve
because you already pushed a button oh
yeah so advance framing let's just call
it smart framing because there's
traditional framing advanced framing all
these different kinds of framing
packages but I like to look at it is the
framing is just one of the systems in
the house and for particular projects
you need a particular system and so in
this case here you know a 24 inch on
center framing system worked in just
really good with what the system overall
package was here so we can call it
advanced framing call or whatever you
want but it's really about making
decisions that are appropriate to the
overall decision being made on the
project I love that so you know when I
hear advanced framing sometimes I think
oh we're trying to save lumber or save
money but in reality it's being smart
and designing it from the start
now let's talk about this how Steve this
is what a 2,400 square foot house yep
yep plus we're actually in the garage
I've 600 square feet of garage here good
side okay so 3,000 or so feet under roof
on this house and in this particular
case we've got trusses above us here
which are actually landing front to back
on the house so we're clear spanning the
garage there we've got no posts in the
garage no posts in the garage no posts
in the house so the whole house load is
brought down to the outside walls which
is where the outside foundation wall
system is so it was inevitably the
decision when I were you know working
with the Builder Jake and we came up
with the idea that's let's framing up
those outside walls let's throw the roof
on there get it closed in with some zip
sheathing get us nice and weather tight
real quick but now we have a factory to
do everything else inside here sometimes
when guys talk about oh you know it's
better to do things off-site and you get
better quality well if we build a little
warehouse here then we can control the
environment and get good quality on
everything we do inside I so true it's
like a little barn isn't it all right so
then talk to me about some of the
details on this framing so we've got 24
inch on
on these outside walls 24-inch aunts on
Center framing right all the studs
aligned with the trusses up above okay
we have our trimmers come down notice we
don't throw the extra jack in here they
actually take the time to cut the
set the sill okay and then run
the trimmer up above that so it
eliminates a little inside of that
gotcha and then that goes up to our
header
I always insert a header plate on the
bottom that helps us catch all the trim
and stuff on the windows gotcha but then
notice that we do an appropriately-sized
header and then that creates a header
pocket yep so lvl header right there and
then that plate right there that's your
2 by 6 that you're using underneath that
header so now our trim and everything's
gonna sit well flush but the beauty of
this is you know I always talk about the
framer gets to do what the framer does
when the framer should do it so we're
not out of sequence and any insulator
when he comes he can insulate that
pocket when it's time for an insulation
to go in and the insulator does what the
insulator does when he needs to do it
yeah so we're not asking somebody to
come and just spray that we're not
asking the framer to mess around with
two inches of rigid foam and build
insulated headers we get what we get
through the normal sequence of stuff now
Steve I'm also noticing now it looks
like the insulator is coming a little
early but your your trust is seen to be
quite a bit higher over that top plate
what's what's the theory behind so the
what you see up there is the trust
industry calls that a slider so you
notice that we basically took a two by
six and we slid it down in between the
joint of the bottom cord and upper cord
and what it does is it basically splits
those cords and it elevates the heel
height so we get a little bit more
insulation above the wall which is
traditionally you know the bad decision
of just having that little throat
dimension of like four inches is now 10
inches so we get really good adequate
insulation so now of our wall plate yeah
all right now I'm noticing you've got
double top plates here and a lot of
times when I read about advanced framing
they're preaching single top plate as
little lumber as possible what's the
difference between the single and the
double up there
so again when we look at this the system
as a whole we will come to understand
that the sheathing on the outside is our
shilling right so that means we have a
one inch poly so panels like this but it
sits on the outside of the house
okay and because of that then we've
picked up some of the losses of the
thermal efficiency in the house by
simply having that our sheathing on the
outside of the house gotcha
so because we do that then I don't have
to nickel and dime the framing package
and beat up the framers this particular
framer who does an exceptional job
he likes the double top plate because it
does it helps him straighten out his
walls and it keeps him in you know a
traditional mindset but we're still
building a wall that's better than
what's traditionally built got it so
these walls in here are what 10 foot
tall is that right yeah they're well
they're nine foot walls ten nine foot
ceilings from the plate to their Gaucho
and then I'm seeing these two sheathing
breaks here I don't normally see those
in this location what's going on with
that yeah so we we couldn't get the 10
foot zip art panels here so what the
framer chose to do is to keep that
blocking in a comfort range right so
they're not working off of ladders or
scaffolding to deal with the joints so
they railroaded the lower piece they
railroaded the upper piece and then they
put that joint in the middle so now all
of the blocking and stuff is done in a
very convenient level gotta that makes
sense now tell me about this hardware
I'm seeing over this big header on this
window no no this window just for
clarity it hasn't been cut out yet check
out our other videos about why but talk
to me about that clip right there Steve
so that's just a simple header hanger if
you notice that we went down to a single
jack here in the code and you know
window openings over 3 feet would
require a double jack okay but one way
we eliminated that other jack was to
simply put in a header hanger there
which adds assistance to carrying that
header gotcha that makes sense
and then tell me about insulation for
these cavities later because you've got
this big five and a half inch deep
cavity plus we talked about this zip R
which is one inch thick that's going to
give you our six point six on the
outside then what are you gonna do
inside the so on the inside we're gonna
splash it with an inch of closed cell
foam okay we're probably bringing that
up a little bit and then we're just
going to fill the rest with a blown
fiberglass blown in back H I mean this
this is a house that you know we care
about the decisions but it's still a
house that's kind of in that commodity
realm where we're showing people that
you can build the average
house really well yeah right that you
don't have to go over the top to build
it to get a really good house and
honestly the the are six outside is more
important than anything we put in the
cavity right right because he's got a
you've got all that continuous on the
outside without any breakage because
each one of these thuds is probably
around are one per inch well yeah are
one either of our sorry two by six stud
is about our 5.5 okay right so when you
look at a wall system if we were able to
take all of the exterior walls in this
house and make them one wall all right
that would suggest that about twenty
percent well probably about eighteen
percent is framing okay and that's our
five ish right right
sixty three sixty four percent is cavity
so that's your true r-value in the wall
and then another 20 percent ish is
windows and these these windows are
better than your usual
you know point three windows these are
going to be closer to our seven our
eight ones
they're triple glazed so we elevate that
but understand that those three major
components that make up a wall the
minute I put our sheathing on the
outside it improves the sixty percent of
the cavity area but it also improves the
20% of the opaque area where the framing
is and ineffectively more than doubles
the r-value at the opaque framing so
when you normalize those values it
brings your our value way up right I had
one of the the best building scientists
I've ever met and I sat down at lunch
with him one day and I said hey Gus what
what's the best wall we can build you
know what give me the skinny here I'm a
young architect I want the secrets right
he said it's real simple put as much
insulation as you can afford on the
outside of the house you'll never go
wrong smart really smart Steve anything
I missed on the topic of framing in
particular in this house that you wanted
to mention no I mean but you know as we
look at the expanse you know again you
can see that the because we're carrying
it from wall to wall it gives you this
factory environment and do everything
you know and we were able to do some
good air sealing details and all this
stuff you're going to pick up in some
later videos but it's just kind of
creating that enclosure so that we take
in
on site construction project and make it
more like a factory built environment as
we inevitably built our on-site factory
here so awesome guys for more on this
project this is called the hybrid house
right sure Steve's the architect my
buddy Jake Bruton with Aero builders in
Columbia Missouri is the Builder here
and Jake is brand new on our network
that we've just come out with so if you
don't know about that go to build show
network.com gonna have several videos
including several with Steve telling you
the behind the scenes on this house
there's a lot of technology behind this
house it's not expensive it's just smart
and Steve and Jake did an amazing job in
designing and building this house in
doing it on a really reasonable budget
of under two hundred and fifty dollars a
square foot for this house for some
amazing both scores and performance and
products going in here but really
off-the-shelf stuff so go to build show
network comm follow Steve on Instagram
we'll put a link in the description if
you want to see more of Steve's work too
we've actually shot a bunch of videos
with Steve from Boston where Steve is
based out of so I'll put a link in the
description to those as well Steve built
several passive houses and some amazing
projects if you're not already a
subscriber though hit that subscribe
button below we've got content every
Tuesday and every Friday follow us on
Twitter Instagram otherwise we'll see
you next time a little show
[Music]
Voir Plus de Vidéos Connexes
Framing My Next Rental Property | 60 Day Home Build CHALLENGE!!
4 Framing & Composition Techniques for Beginners | Photography & Video Training
Revealing How Much it Cost to Build My First House for a Rental Property!!
Camera Framing: Shot Composition & Cinematography Techniques Explained [The Shot List, Ep 2]
Stop Using Ai Prompts - Instead Do This To Make Money!
Renovating an Abandoned Mansion Part 9
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)