Building A Modern Shed – Part 4 – Framing the Walls

In the previous articles we built the foundation, framed the floor and put flooring on the frame.  Now we’ll frame up the walls, raise the them and lock everything in place with some top plates.  There is a lot involved but we’ll take it one step at a time, and you’ll see that framing up the walls to a shed is doable.  With that, let’s get started.

 

Below is the video we made to give you an overview.

Mark Where The Walls Will Go On The Floor

We’re going to mark where the walls will go on the floor so we can easily place them and dry fit the wall plates.

 

Cut all the wall plates and dry fit them on the floor.

• Front and back – 12 feet
• Sides – 9’ 5”

Make sure they are all square with each other.

Crown each wall plate and mark the top to make layout easier.  Throughout all the wall assemblies we’ll be keeping all the lumber crown side up.  When you’re building the walls you want the crowns facing the same direction.  That way if the wall has a curve it will a gradual curve.  Otherwise you’ll have a wavy wall.

Building The Back Wall

We’re going to start with the least complicated wall.

Back Wall Layout

Let’s start by marking out where we’re going to attach the studs on the bottom and top plates

Crown the boards with the crown facing up.

All the studs are 16 inches on center.  We’re going to mark the outside edge of each stud.

With both boards together, measure 16 ¾ inches and make a mark on both.  Put an X on the side closer to where you started the measurement from.

Continue to lay out the other studs.  Tape measures have red numbers to indicate every 16 inches.  All you have to do is find those and add ¾ of an inch.  Ex. 32 ¾, 48 ¾, …..

Back Wall Assembly

Cut 14 2x4x8 lumber to 7’ 2 ½” and layout the wall on the floor.  Remember

• Make sure the studs are crown side up.
• Make the straightest studs the outside ones.

Line up the studs with your marks and attach them to the bottom plate with 2 nails.

Now move to the top plate and do the same.

You’ll notice there are 2 studs with spacers on each side of the back wall.  This is so there is more surface area to attach the side walls to the back one.

Cut a 2x4x8 piece of lumber into 6 pieces 16” long.

Nail one of these spacers at the bottom, middle and top area on the inside edge of the outside wall studs.  Once you get those attached, nail the stud sideways to the spacers and at the top and bottom.

Side Wall Build

The two side walls are going to be the same, so everything below is for both walls.

Side Wall Layout

Like the back wall, we’re going to layout where the studs will go.

We’re going to focus on laying the studs and king studs.  Don’t worry about marking parts of the header support and sill plate support.  All measurements for both walls will start from where the side wall meets the back wall.

Mark the king stud locations with a K.

Side Wall Assembly

Right now, the side walls are the same height as the back wall.  With that said, you’ll cut

6 pieces of 2x4x8 lumber to 7’ 2 ½”

When you’re laying out and assembling the walls, remember

• Make sure the studs are crown side up.
• Make the straightest studs the outside ones.

Build The Window Headers

Cut 4 pieces that measure 4’ 3” from the 2x6x10 boards.

Cut 2 pieces of ½” OSB to 4’ 2 ¾” x 5 ¼”.  We want the OSB to be slightly smaller than the 2×6 boards.

Crown and mark the 2×6 boards

Sandwich the OSB between 2 pieces of 2×6 crown side up and nail them together.  Make 2 of them, one for each wall.

On both king studs measure and mark 6’ 6”.  This will be where the top of the window header is attached.

Line up the top of the header with the king stud marks and nail it in place from the outside of the king studs.

Install Studs And Window Header Assembly

It’s time to put the studs and window header assembly on the side wall head and sole plates that you marked earlier.  You’ll line up the studs with the regular marks, and the king studs in the window header assembly with K marks.

Put 2 nails in for each stud.

The video below shows how I had to raise the bottom plate to make the king stud flush before nailing it in place.

Finish The Window Area

Measure the length for the jack studs from the bottom of the header to the top of the sole plate.  See the diagram above for the different parts of the window area.

Cut and nail in your jack studs.

Measure and mark 3 feet from the top of each jack stud.  This will be where the top of the window sill plate will go.

Cut a 2×4 to 4 feet.  We’ll use this for the window sill.

Make sure all the boards are crowned up.

Line up the top of the window sill board with the 3 foot mark on the jack studs.

Now we can work on the sill plate supports and cripple studs that go under the window sill plate.

• Measure the length of the sill plate supports and cripple studs
• Cut them
• Crown them
• Nail them in place with two nails

Last thing to take care of is the cripple studs above the window header.

 

Front Wall Build

We’re going to build the last wall not that we’ve gotten some experience with the others.

Build The Top Header

Cut two 2x6x12 timbers to a length of 11’ 9”

Cut scrap ½ inch OSB so the total dimensions are – 11’ 8 3/4 ” long and 5 ¼” inches wide

Crown the 2×6 boards and mark which way the crown is facing

Nail all the material so 2×6 boards are crown up and the OSB is sandwiched with the two boards.

Build The Door Header

Cut 2 pieces a length of 5’ 6” from a 2x10x12 piece of lumber

Cut ½ inch OSB to the dimension of 5’ 5 ¾” x 9 ¼”

 

Crown the 2×10 pieces.

Just like above, nail all the material so 2×10 boards are crown up and the OSB is sandwiched with the two boards.

Cut Almost All The Lumber

Cut

• (10) pieces of 2x4x8 lumber cut to 7’ 6”
• (1) 2x4x12 piece of lumber cut to 11’ 9” (top plate over the door)
• (2) pieces of 2x4x10 cut to 9’ 1”
• (10) pieces of 2x4x8 lumber cut to 1’

Crown all the lumber.

Layout The Bottom and Top Wall Plate

We’re at a point where we can do the layout for the top and bottom wall plate.  Notice that the dimensions are to the outside of the studs.  Use a scrap piece to simulate how the top plate over the door will finally sit before marking from the left.

 

Just like other layouts, you’ll use a K to signify a king stud and X for other studs.

Layout The Top Wall Plate and Top Header

Before we start assembling the wall let’s mark the top wall plate and top header.

Mark out the measurements with a T instead of the traditional X.

 

Layout The Outside Boards

To make marking these easy, line up one of the 7’ 6” boards with the two outside 9’ 1”.

Mark both outside boards using the interior stud.

Build The Door Area

Assemble the door area, orange area in the diagram below, using two 7’ 6” and the door header we made earlier.

Nail the header to the king studs with 4 nails on each side

Start Assembling The Front Wall

Time to start framing everything we’ve cut.

 

 

 

 

Set the upper wall plate in place so you can measure the upper cripple studs.

Double check the 1’ cripple stud area above the door before installing them.  You might have to make the cripple studs shorter because of the variances you get in rough lumber.

 

Once you get all the upper cripple studs nailed to the upper plate, put the assembled piece in place.

Install Jack Stud For Door

Last thing we have to do is measure, cut and install the jack stud under the door.

 

Raising the Walls

To make raising the walls easier, I screwed some scrap OSB to edge of each corner.  This was kind of a pain for the back wall, but it still made it way easier.

It helps to have someone else to help you raise the walls.  That front wall is really heavy for sure.

I used some clamps to temporally hold the walls together.

The video below shows me moving the side wall in place and temporarily clamping it.

Once the walls up, you can make everything square and flush.

Nail your floor plates to the floor

Install The Top Plates

Now that the walls are up, we’re going to install a top plate that will lock the side and back walls together.

Take a 2x4x10 piece of lumber and lay it on top of the side wall so it overlaps the top of the back wall as well.

Scribe a line, cut the top plate and nail it in place.

 

 

Hopefully this article helped you get started on building your shed.  If you found this interesting please think about signing up for our email list and get content sent straight to your email when it gets released. Also, we are on the social media sites above and YouTube.