Bob Schmidt shows you how and why to lay-out a wall during construction to a standard 16 inch on center lay-out. When laying out a top and bottom plate for a typical wall a framing square is usually the most appropriate tool. To begin, flush up top & bottom plate ends, hook tape on flush ends. The first measurement is 15 1/4 inches to side of first stud placement. Each corresponding measurement should be 3/4 of an inch shy of stud marks on typical tape measure. This will give you studs that are on 16 inch center layouts. Sixteen inch center layouts are important for several reasons: many building materials are designed to fit in a 16 inch layout, ie. insulation, medicine cabinets some tile backing inserts & ironing board inserts; when installing cabinets or trim ie. crown, baseboard, these materials need to be attached to framing. If you stay true to 16 inch centers, all you really need to do in a wall is find the first stud and the rest of the studs in the wall are always multiples of 16 inches away. Another consideration when framing a wall is to match the existing structure as far as floor joist layouts, so as to allow space to run heat ducts, plumbing pipes, wiring to electrical panels, without having wall studs in the way and saving you time and money.Hi I'm Bob Schmidt with HomeRemodelWorksho
I've made videos on how to lay out on
how to build your wall square inside
a space how to build plumb walls how to put
your framing members in so your wall is
nice and flat
but has been brought to my attention
that I've never actually showed you how to
do a typical sixteen inch layout
on a stud wall
Let's get to work
A couple of basic tools that you're
going to need to do a typical plate
layout
is a couple of straight plates of course
one representing a top plate of the wall
one representing the bottom plate
but the other tools that are going to be
required is either a framing square or
this is called a speed square
either one will work for doing what we're
going to do
When doing a typical layout for a wall
as to where you're going to put your
studs
first thing you do is lay your two plates
next to each other your top and bottom
plates so they are nice and flush hear on the end
just about every standard layout tape
that i've ever seen
has these red marks at the typical
wall stud layout a typical mistake
someone makes is they say
well I'll go ahead and I'll mark the sixteen
and then I'll put my stud one side
or the other
and we're going to be good
these marks are for centers
so basically what you have to do is
since the width of a typical wall
stud is an inch and a half
which is three-quarters and three
quarters
as your tapes hooked on the end of the
board
go ahead and make your first mark at
three-quarters back
from every red stud mark
so that would be fifteen and a quarter
put an X over top of where the
red is
then come down to thirty one and a
quarter
put your X over top where the red is
forty seven and a quarter
and so forth and so on Every wall has
to start with a stud you automatically
just put an X on the end of your wall
you're beginning of your wall
then you go ahead and take your framing square there's a thin side to your
framing square
there's a fat side to your framing square
the thin side to your framing square is
exactly the same as an inch and a half
typical stud
so what you do is you take your framing
square line it up on your first mark
over top of both plates
and you put a mark
on both sides of the framing square
you put an X
in between both of them
and you know when these plates go into
place or when you're building your wall
that wall framing stud needs to sit
right between these marks a very good
question to ask would be is
why do I have to concern myself with
laying these out sixteen inch on
center
why not just throw enough in there that
it looks good
well there's several reasons the
basic most important
reason is
most building material comes in two foot
increments
drywall comes in four foot widths
eight-foot widths or eight foot lengts
twelve-foot lengths
if you start a sheet of drywall in this very
beginning when you get down to the other
side that sheet of drywall should break
right in the center of the stud having you
ready for the next sheet to come off but you
also have to concern yourself with what
goes in the wall
insulation for one example
is designed
to have exactly the right size to fit
inbetween a sixteen inch on center
layout
not only is insulation a concern
but also medicine cabinets are designed
to fit in a typical sixteen inch layout
as are ironing board fold downs as
are
pre premade forms for tile backers in showers
so that basically a a single piece can
slip into this space
and give you a more of a watertight
in time saving in putting some of your
stuff together another huge advantage
about sticking with the sixteen inch
lay out