basic construction question

[shane3fan]

I will probably make many more of these before my garage is done--sorry ahead of time.

Contractor is coming tonight to finish details about the foundation for my shop then they break ground in a week or two. I keep running through the framing process in my head. I plan to build the walls in sections to make it easier for me to do it myself. My current dilema is bracing the walls when I stand them up. The floor will be concrete, so I dont want to brace to the inside. Three of the walls will be built with dirt on the outside, so I can brace them with 2x4s and stakes. The front wall, the one with the garage doors--will have concrete all around and I am not sure what the best method is to brace the wall.

 

[Nascar4401]

Do front last ? Lift when ready to nail?

 

[bgarrett]

the 2x4 braces dont need stakes. Thats way overkill because you are not going to leave the frames standing unattended for very long, you are going to build the frames, stand one up, brace it, stand another up, brace it, and nail it to the first. On the third wall, no braces, just lift and nail to a standing wall. Ok maybe one brace at the other end if its a long wall but my point is that this moves quickly. stakes are wasting your effort

 

[shane3fan]

Do front last ? Lift when ready to nail?

Thats the only solution I could think of. I dont see any reason that it wont work--just thought I would run it by folks who may have 'been there-done that'.

 

[1320stang]

Front last even if in sections.

You can brace the front wall to the sides diagonally on the top plate or down to the base plates.

I'd stake the side walls as well, especially if you don't get all the walls done in one day.

As you build each section, run a 1x or 2x diagonally to keep it square, then all you have to worry about is plumb.

 

[Falcon67]

Do a corner first, brace across the top between the two sides (12' 2x4 or so) as well as to the dirt. Then up the long wall on the dirt side, then the next corner, brace across the top. Then start your corners on the door side, bracing across the top. I had dirt all around, so it wasn't that complicated here. Try looking at Page 2 and up of my build thread, maybe some hints there.

 

[Coloshaver]

My contractor braced my 16' walls from the inside like this until they got the trusses and sheathing on. He didn't have to attach anything to the floor. They measured across the tops as they put up the trusses and it stayed really square.

Good luck

 

[ddawg16]

Click on the Garage build link in my signature....you will see how I did it....which is as above...

 

[mrobins297aaa]

if you have saw cuts in your concrete you can nail small flat 2x4's into the cuts and then nail your braces to them...........since your concrete will still be a bit soft you can just use standard 16 sinkers, it works really well i did that on my last house.

another idea that worked well was i nailed a horizantel 2x4 just below where the top of the brace met the wall and since the wall on the left in the photo needed to move out I just put a pipe clamp on the horiz 2x4 and the top of the brace and tightened it up and moved the wall out. That wall was 68' long so it was all over the place, I had a string from one end to the other along the top plate. once I had it straight I steaked and braced it on the out side

 

[camarotoolman]

1st. its hard to build walls on dirt. Just cut some 2x4x16 blocks and tap con the to the floor. or dril 1 hole and put 2 nails in it to hold blocks, nail your bracing to them, plumb your walls as you go. Fill the little holes when you are done. If you brace from the outside, how are you going to put your sheathing on? If you have not done this before, I suggust hiring a carpenter for a few days. The time and materials wasted would be worth it. iMHo