16"OC or 24"OC Framing?

[karoc]

To much information can give you a headache from Google. Will be building my small shop/home which will be single story, nothing fancy just finish out life. Yrs ago I built my house with framing all on 16" OC cause that was the normal framing. Now days it seems that the new normal is 24" OC framing which is type framing I am considering mainly due to cost material and little easier for a one man show. There will be 1/2 sheathing on exterior 2x6 walls, the interior walls will be 2x4's all on 24"OC So my question is, does this sound normal to have studs 24"OC since this is a single story with 10'-12' ceiling height? Any suggestions would be fantastic

 

[HPRifleman]

Unless it's regional, I'm not sure that 24" O.C. is any kind of new normal. My new garage was just built last year and studs were 16" O.C.

Are you really saving that much with the wider stud spacing?

 

[Bessy]

I'm no pro, but when we built the shed at my parents' place, the studs were all 16" OC. As mentioned above, unless there is some regional code that allows for 24" OC studs, it's likely that 16" will be required.

By my recollection, rafters and trusses get spaced at 24", while stud walls and floor joists are typically at 16".

 

[karoc]

2x6x12' is 13.00 ea as of today
70' wall 16"OC 52 studs = 682.00
70' wall 24"OC 35 studs = 455.00
70'x32'x12' if I figured it right

 

[Viper98912]

I know someone who has 24" O/C framing in their house, with a 9.5 ft ceiling, and I think it's terrible. Every time you close a door, you see the entire wall shake, because there's just not enough mass and rigidity in the wall to restrict impact. I'm talking about closing solid doors, like the ones leading to a garage.

Also, the 24" spacing also allows the drywall to act even more hollow, letting noise pass through (and even accentuate like a speaker). If you're on the backside of a drawer or microwave, every time you close that door it sounds like you're slamming the drawer (from the other side of the wall).

24" also restricts the amount of stuff you can hang from studs - for example, I hang my TV wall mounts from two studs 16" O/C. If you're at 24" O/C, you have to go to a much larger backplate (which I don't like).

It's also a little strange to know that the drywall is a little more "fragile". I believe you said this may be a retirement place for you, but still...knowing that any small mistake (a kick, moving furniture, or a grandchild running around on their plastic pedal bike) might mean you having a huge hole to repair.

The first two out of the four above are the ones that really bug me. From experience, I would definitely recommend going to a standard 16" O/C. It's just not worth the cost savings, which won't be much anyway unless you have some really long wall lengths. For most average length walls that will range anywhere from 10 to 20 ft, you may save maybe a couple of studs?

 

[readhead]

24” framing is getting more popular even though it has been around for at least fifty years that I can remember.
it has become part of “high performance construction “ and it’s main claim to fame is material savings and increased insulation.
It’s worth looking into. There are certain things to watch out for like single top plates with rafters or trusses stacked directly over studs.

 

[karoc]

I been watching Matt Risinger You Tubes which he showing homes built walls 24" OC, saving is few hundred and with 1/2 sheathing should stiffen the walls up.

 

[jack stand]

Back when Lumber was more "normally" priced, I'd suggest just stay with 16". Now I'd sure take a look at 16" for your living space and 24" in the shop. 200' ÷ 16" = 150 studs.
200' ÷ 24" = 100.
The extra nailing opportunity for drywall, trim and cabinets will show (in appearance, quality) in your house portion with 16".

 

[Chilliwack Murray]

Stud spacing and sheathing thickness are determined by the load bearing requirement and height of the wall, and 24”OC is perfectly acceptable in many cases. From your description your situation may qualify for 24” OC if there is no risk of significant snow load however the 1/2 sheathing may not. At very least you would likely require blocking between the studs every 4’ with this setup. If so you would likely come out ahead just using 5/8 sheathing and/or 16” OC if required. Make an anonymous inquiry to the building permit dept in your town (or a different town)… In my experience, building inspectors are usually happy to help you out on the front end to prevent a fight later.


Building to the minimum standard ensures it won’t collapse but doesn’t give you the most enjoyable building. I lived in a house for years that was built to minimum standards (maybe) and could always judge the wind speed outside by how much the house shook. I don’t miss that one bit.


Being a shop, you’ll also likely want to hang shelves and other items from walls, building code minimums don’t take into account anything but pictures on the walls.

 

[cstmg8]

I'd only go 16 on walls. No knock on the OP, but do people really go 24" on studs to save a few hundred bucks on a build that's costing $100k+ ( double or triple that)????
Peace of mind would be enough reason for me, especially talking about rafters sitting on top of it, and interior movement/noise.

 

[karoc]

Lots of good points made for 16"OC
Here's link to video about 24"OC

 

[jack stand]

There is an argument if you're going for a very well insulated building that using spray foam will supply the additional wall rigidity (24" oc) and have less thermal transfer with the less wood. Wood is not a good insulation @ generally a "r" value of 1 per inch.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I did my addition with 24" OC rather than 16". I had 10' side walls. I think anything over 12', I would go back to 16"OC. This is of course, with 2x6 framing.


IMHO, I'd be fine with either 24 or 16 but hands down, 2x6 framing.

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

You’re basically talking about “Value Engineering”. The “applied” side- not so much the theoretical side.

The NAHB put out a small book/pamphlet some years ago about that- I had one somewhere/can’t find it. It had lots of diagrams and principles for constructing a house.

However; as previously noted, you may or maynot be able to do so depending on your AHJ. So, until you have that conversation I wouldn’t be putting the horse before the cart.

 

[FMB4]

Follow the stud spacing code to your area for the type, and use, of your building design. I'd go with 16" since you're building a residential living quarters.

 

[HPRifleman]

2x6x12' is 13.00 ea as of today
70' wall 16"OC 52 studs = 682.00
70' wall 24"OC 35 studs = 455.00
70'x32'x12' if I figured it right

You save 1 stud for every 4' of wall with 24" O.C. construction. Based on your cost of $13 per stud, that translates into a savings of $3.25 per linear foot of wall.

A 2100 sq. ft. single story house with a footprint of 70' x 30' has 200' of exterior wall. In this case using 24" O.C. saves $650 in studs. How does this savings compare with the overall cost of building a house?

 

[kbs2244]

in my experience, most codes will not allow 24 inch spacing in a home
out buildings only

 

[manwithtools]

in my experience, most codes will not allow 24 inch spacing in a home
out buildings only

If you are talking 2x4's on 24" centers, I think that is correct, but 2x6 on 24" centers is a different story.

 

[matt_i]

I view it as a profit angle. If you're saving $500 per building on @24" and have a subdivision of 30 houses to build thats $15k.

If you are building your own building and using your own labor, my free advice is not to skimp. I think its good to have that extra structure as you can't develop it later.

 

[rayra]

I been watching Matt Risinger You Tubes which he showing homes built walls 24" OC, saving is few hundred and with 1/2 sheathing should stiffen the walls up.

Except he's talking about engineered wood products for the studs, thicker wall studs that provide for that wider spacing, AND he's spending a huge amount over basic stick building with all the sheathing, insulation and spray foam product he is putting into that wall sandwich.
Between all the engineered products, applied goop, water barriers etc etc, his per foot costs on walls has to be 10-15x 'normal' costing.

I like watching his channel for 'state of the art', but what he is doing has huge costs that are out of reach for most people.

Take 'his' house that is wrapping up now. It was supposed to be an affordable application of some of his methods on a neighbor's house he was flipping to house church missionaries. Then it ballooned all out of scope and turned into their 'new' house, with a fortune in donated-for-advertising materials.

 

[Steve_P]

I'm not a builder but didn't know you could do 24" OC studs for walls. My house has 16" OC wall studs and 24" OC trusses for the floors. If I could do it again, I'd do 16" OC trusses for the floors as it's definitely not the most solid floor.

Doing something like this is a rounding error unless it's a $5k project.

 

[reader2580]

I like watching his channel for 'state of the art', but what he is doing has huge costs that are out of reach for most people.

Take 'his' house that is wrapping up now. It was supposed to be an affordable application of some of his methods on a neighbor's house he was flipping to house church missionaries. Then it ballooned all out of scope and turned into their 'new' house, with a fortune in donated-for-advertising materials.

Matt's new house would easily cost over $500 per square foot if one had to pay regular prices for materials and labor. I watched a lot of his videos on the new house and most of the time I was thinking that almost nobody who had to pay for the materials would do a lot of what he was doing. Many companies donated both materials and time to the project. In some cases I am sure the material supplier paid to have their materials installed. The window package had to have a value of $25,000 easily because he used some fancy European windows. He said he didn't get the engineered lumber free, but the manufacturer gave him a a substantial discount. He probably paid less than conventional framing lumber out of pocket.

I don't think anything he did was bad, but very few have the budget to buy all of the latest and greatest in home building technology. A production builder would never do 99% of what he does when building a house because most homebuyers don't want to pay for it. Homebuyers would rather have the fancy finishes and more square feet versus a better built house.

 

[reader2580]

The reason for 24" OC wall framing is generally to have less thermal bridging for better energy efficiency. I bought a copy of a Fine Homebuilding magazine "book" that was published in 2007 because it show building a house with 24" OC walls and foam as the sheathing. I think that style of building is no longer done. Most who want high energy efficiency today use SIPs or ICF.

My house had an addition added in the 1990s. They put a layer of foam insulation board on the exterior of the addition. I am not sure if there is traditional sheathing underneath or not.

 

[larry4406]

With exterior studs at 24” o/c you often end up with bows or waves in the sheathing. This telegraphs thru to the siding. Since siding is normally installed after the house is hung with drywall, the problem shows up late in the game and becomes a ***** to fix. BTDT.

 

[Voi]

Haven't had time to read the thread closely but it's called Advanced Framing and often uses a single top plate so there is further cost savings there but at the "expense" of having to make sure each truss is lined up over a stud.

Also, 24" wide batts can actually be more expensive per square foot than 16" wide batts.

I looked into it for our cabin, especially since one wall was required to be built from LSL studs, but ruled it out mostly due to the fact that code called for 19.2" framing for our rafters. Just didn't make sense.

 

[sky jumper]

With exterior studs at 24” o/c you often end up with bows or waves in the sheathing. This telegraphs thru to the siding. Since siding is normally installed after the house is hung with drywall, the problem shows up late in the game and becomes a ***** to fix. BTDT.

yes! this is true, and can happen at 16"oc if you use crappy 3 ply sheathing. my biggest regret from my build is going cheap on the sheathing. I started out with the cheapest 1/2" 3ply that Menards had, and it curled up right in the pile - but it was "rated" sheathing, so hey. I had to block it all around to keep it somewhat straight. so I switched to 1/2 OSB which is more dimensionally stable and fine for walls, but I then used it on the roof at 16"oc and that was a mistake --- there are parts that bow & cup under direct sun, and it shows through the shingles. and now I don't even remember how much $$ I saved. live and learn, I am no builder.

lesson - spend the money and go with 4ply DF plywood. 1/2 on the walls and 5/8 on the roof. just do it and forget about the extra $500 it costs.

 

[Renegade1LI]

We have a rental house that has an addition framed 24" oc, single top plate, not good, also had a triple 2 x 6 header spanning 16'. Had to jack & level the 2nd floor, ripped out the header & rebuilt the supporting wall 16" oc with double top plate, reframed the opening & installed new header. It always amazes me what people do to cut corners, I like to consider code as the minimum requirement, most times it pays to exceed code, never the other way. I'm not saying to waste money & resources but sometimes it pays to spend a little now, it always costs more later. I had a building inspector tell me that for some reasons there are builders that can't afford to do it right the first time but somehow can afford to do it right the second or third time.

 

[My Old Tools]

Back when 2x4 was 2" x 4" 24" on center was the standard. I have had several 100 year old houses and every one was 24" on center. Of course the walls were pine shiplap inside and out. The last one was two story balloon framed, i.e. studs were 24' long reaching from sill to top plate of the second story. 2nd story joists were nailed into the studs. Shiplap inside provided the strength. 16" on center came about with drywall and the downsizing of structural lumber. When I framed an apartment inside my metal building I went 24" on center because there was zero load on the frame other than drywall. Outside walls were tied to the steel frame. It was neither shakey nor hollow sounding. If you go 24" on center, plan on sheathing with OSB for lateral strength and solid feel.

 

[karoc]

Like few others said piece of mind is worth the additional cost. Good info on plywood, did nothing know that, be going with 5/8 OSB on roof then.

 

[acer66]

24” framing is getting more popular even though it has been around for at least fifty years that I can remember.
it has become part of “high performance construction “ and it’s main claim to fame is material savings and increased insulation.
It’s worth looking into. There are certain things to watch out for like single top plates with rafters or trusses stacked directly over studs.

The part of my house that was build in 1901 was way ahead of its time because it was framed with 2x4” 24” o/c and even the roof is framed that way and it is still standing.
Makes a bit of a ruckus during strong winds but I like that.

Everything I build around my place is and will be 2x6” 24” o/c for exterior walls.
Not to save money on wood but to maximize insulation which will be the same when I start building my shop with a minimum of 10’ high ceiling because energy prices will only go up imho.

If if the place is not climate controlled I would maybe do 2x4” 16” o/c.

 

[jar944]

My house is an irritating mix of 16 and 24" framing, though the only time it's actually been an issue was trying to hang a TV mount.

 

[Masheen365]

when I closed my carport in I did 24” OC. When it came time to insulate it I wound up spending just as much on insulation as what I saved on lumber by not doing 16” OC.

 

[acer66]

when I closed my carport in I did 24” OC. When it came time to insulate it I wound up spending just as much on insulation as what I saved on lumber by not doing 16” OC.

The way I understand it is that 24” o/c is done not to save costs with insulation over lumber but to save in the long run with the better R value of the wall.
Lumber has a very low R value compared to insulation.
You combine that will an air tight building envelope and the savings are in the future lower heating and cooling cost.

 

[larry4406]

The way I understand it is that 24” o/c is done not to save costs with insulation over lumber but to save in the long run with the better R value of the wall.
Lumber has a very low R value compared to lumber.
You combine that will an air tight building envelope and the savings are in the future lower heating and cooling cost.

That’s what our bean counters said when we switched to 2x6 framing for R19 in the walls vs R13/15 in a 2x4.

Then they dreamed about all the $200-300 lumber “savings” they would see by going to 24” o/c. They gloated about how savy they were. We use 5/8” Strongwall OSB; a decent product.

After repairing several houses (20-30+) to fix the wavy siding, we quickly went back to 16” o/c for exterior walls with 2x6 framing. Meanwhile the bean counter sulked in the corner and had to explain all the repair costs to the owner vs the savings that were projected.

 

[acer66]

That’s what our bean counters said when we switched to 2x6 framing for R19 in the walls vs R13/15 in a 2x4.

Then they dreamed about all the $200-300 lumber “savings” they would see by going to 24” o/c. They gloated about how savy they were. We use 5/8” Strongwall OSB; a decent product.

After repairing several houses (20-30+) to fix the wavy siding, we quickly went back to 16” o/c for exterior walls with 2x6 framing. Meanwhile the bean counter sulked in the corner and had to explain all the repair costs to the owner vs the savings that were projected.

I just checked my maybe 6-8 year old walls and there is no waving of any sort.
Maybe that is a regional thing with more extrem temperature differences or moisture?
My walls are 2x6” 24” o/c up to 12’ tall, green zip sheeting and lp smart siding 4x8’ sheets in climate zone 7.

 

[manwithtools]

Lumber has a very low R value compared to lumber.

I see what you did there. Trying to pull a fast one on us, hey?

 

[acer66]

I see what you did there. Trying to pull a fast one on us, hey?

Haha, guess so.

 

[mike93lx]

The way I understand it is that 24” o/c is done not to save costs with insulation over lumber but to save in the long run with the better R value of the wall.
Lumber has a very low R value compared to insulation.
You combine that will an air tight building envelope and the savings are in the future lower heating and cooling cost.

Lumber is about R-1 per inch of depth. Fiberglass is about 3.5, foam can be 6+

All that said, exterior insulation is still better. That's where I would be spending money. Rockwool comfortboard, zip-r, poly iso... Lots of options

 

[acer66]

Lumber is about R-1 per inch of depth. Fiberglass is about 3.5, foam can be 6+

All that said, exterior insulation is still better. That's where I would be spending money. Rockwool comfortboard, zip-r, poly iso... Lots of options

Yes, I did not think about that when I worked on my place so far but the additions I am working on now will have that type of sheeting.

On a side note, they also make R21 fiberglass insulation for 2x6” walls but at least around here you have to order that.
Even the inspector first thought I put the wrong insulation in.

 

[slowxj]

2 ft centers are very common in steel framed structures. The dead loading aspects, cheaper materials, and easier install (think plumbing electrical etc) makes it a very nice situation. When building 24 oc walls I make every door frame like it's load bearing to help with wall regidity.