Carpentry: top plate level tolerance

[thunderskunk]

Mornin,

20x24 with 12ft walls, far north of the Northeast US. We’re using prebuilt trusses 24” OC with 6-12 pitch. It’s a big shed. It’ll be sheathed with zip system, gets metal roofing. Gable end is the 20ft side.

We had a bad slab pour, which translated into wonky corners. I’m level along all four big door headers within 1/8” (can’t make up my mind for what side gets a door…) and I’ve got one corner that’s 1/4” low and one that’s 1/4” high, so 1/2” of play.

How critical is a level top plate? I’m going to pry it up and level with shims, just looking for opinions on how much to obsess over it.

 

[Hank11]

You could add another top plate on top and shim it into level. Also be sure to string all the walls to make sure they’re straight. Once you have them straight and staked out so they’ll stay there, put on your new top plate. Nail it well. The new top plate will help the walls stay straight while you’re working.

If one corner is high, you could take a Sawzall and run under the plate, cutting through the studs and nails and then re-nailing. String (or laser) the walls to determine what makes sense.

Do think about whether this will interrupt your use of sheet material inside and out. It’s probably not a big deal, but you should think about it.

 

[Skooterj]

I would have shimmed the bottom plate. Not sure the best option now though. I would probably just shim the trusses at this point.

 

[TurnipTruck]

Quarter inch? Run it, close enough.


Am I a hack?

 

[The Cobbler]

the framing generally looks wonky to me, is this an inspected & permitted build? seems to be lacking jacks studs fir one

 

[Codyboy]

1/2" from one end to the other would not concern me.

 

[PCustoms]

1/2" out over 20' is too much.

I'm also confused by the two sides with no framing

 

[Hank11]

1/2" out over 20' is too much.

I'm also confused by the two sides with no framing

He hasn’t decided which side will get the garage door. And I guess it gives him freedom to put a big window on the other side or something. But I’m with you. I think a half inch is too much. It’s not that hard to fix.

 

[KnurledNut]

Leave it be. Make sure walls are equal length and square, and corners plumb.
At 12' high, I would have done 2x6 walls but too late now.
Make sure your headers are properly sized for your snow load.
Have adequate shear walls on each side of the main opening.

 

[PCustoms]

He hasn’t decided which side will get the garage door. And I guess it gives him freedom to put a big window on the other side or something. But I’m with you. I think a half inch is too much. It’s not that hard to fix.

Can't tell if you're making a joke or serious....

That building looks ready to fall over. With no return/framing on the two ends it's going to be very prone to rocking.

Before the OP addresses the top plates he should get the walls square and sheathed, as that will potentially affect the plates.

 

[thunderskunk]

The indecision around the doors is more thought out than I’m letting on: I’ve got an 17,300 lb steam engine that doesn’t move on its own to get in there. To get it there, I’ll likely need to pull it with cable and pulleys from a variety of angles if the tractor wheels slip, so it’ll be a bit like a pole barn, then I can wall off the two unused doors. The engine is 19’ long, so it’ll sit the 24’ direction. The other engine I have planned as a fresh build is much smaller; I could fit two of them side by side in the 20’ direction easily, which is necessary when doing boiler work. Not anytime soon though.

The gable end walls are missing. Not a code building.

 

[PCustoms]

The gable end walls are missing. Not a code building.

This isn't built anything like a pole barn...

Code or not, if you don't have some sort of shear wall on either side of a huge opening the building will rack.

Where is this located?

 

[dave*99]

I would have shimmed the bottom plate. Not sure the best option now though. I would probably just shim the trusses at this point.

There is not much bottom plate there at all. Seems like it's worth consideration.

 

[Hank11]

Racking is certainly an issue.

 

[CraigStu]

I'd say your 1/2" height thing is no problem. So your sheathing is 1/4" too short at one end. So what? If it's 1/4" too long somewhere that is what saws are for.

 

[BobnCO]

I’m with those “it’s within limits” (barely). What will show most is it your truss tails are not straight. Run a string line and shim any low ones so you subfacia is straight. Then it will look Fine!

 

[thunderskunk]

So I’ve got this laser; not great for the money. I think it’s not-Bosch with a Bosch sticker and a Bosch price. However, it’s useful when it’s useful. Sat the unit up on top of a ladder, auto levels, waited for nightfall. Spanned it right over the top plate. I did this the other night too, but measured to the top of those 20’ long headers as I was missing a top plate.

One corner I thought was bad was fine as I’d shimmed it before I started walls. The opposing corner was low, but that giant header pushed the plate level, so I tucked a few thin shims where it might help keep everything tight and moved on to the other two corners.

Before I thought I was 1/4” low and a 1/4” high, now I’m 1/2” low in two spots. This is only in the corners, which means the foundation has a sort of center hump to it where all the headers are level, but the corners droop. Made some shims out of a plank of maple, filled the gap with an unholy amount of adhesive and some shims to give it a slight chance of ever curing, and we’re level within 1/16” all around.

I’m trying out an idea: I laid out the truss locations with strongtie gussets, and I grabbed some more to attach to the trusses for wall spacing. I should be able to slap these up, double check my walls are straight, and it’s done. We’ll see… on to the next mistake.

 

[The Cobbler]

my garage ended up with a high on one of the curb walls of 1/4" , the framers stick framed that wall , cut the studs to suit , so the wall is level on the top plate, the bottom plate follows the curb. . no one is the wiser

 

[thunderskunk]

If you’re wondering why the third layer isn’t checkered, well that’s why we don’t do roof sheathing at 1 AM folks. Almost beat the rain, come to find out, I’m missing three sheets.

 

[Prospecter]

So I’ve got this laser; not great for the money. I think it’s not-Bosch with a Bosch sticker and a Bosch price. However, it’s useful when it’s useful. Sat the unit up on top of a ladder, auto levels, waited for nightfall. Spanned it right over the top plate. I did this the other night too, but measured to the top of those 20’ long headers as I was missing a top plate.

One corner I thought was bad was fine as I’d shimmed it before I started walls. The opposing corner was low, but that giant header pushed the plate level, so I tucked a few thin shims where it might help keep everything tight and moved on to the other two corners.

Before I thought I was 1/4” low and a 1/4” high, now I’m 1/2” low in two spots. This is only in the corners, which means the foundation has a sort of center hump to it where all the headers are level, but the corners droop. Made some shims out of a plank of maple, filled the gap with an unholy amount of adhesive and some shims to give it a slight chance of ever curing, and we’re level within 1/16” all around.

I’m trying out an idea: I laid out the truss locations with strongtie gussets, and I grabbed some more to attach to the trusses for wall spacing. I should be able to slap these up, double check my walls are straight, and it’s done. We’ll see… on to the next mistake.

I was taught to expect buildings to be out of level, plumb, and square, so to re-level, re-plumb and re-square at each stage. That way, things don't get too far out. By that standard, you did not make a mistake. Just followed best practices to keep your project on track. Carry on.

 

[pcmeiners]

Once you get the level up to your spec check for level in a few years after a decent amount of rain and a hurricane...it will not be to you spec again.

 

[carcruse]

Do I see cracks in your foundation? If so, you have a bigger problem than it just not being level.

 

[thunderskunk]

Do I see cracks in your foundation? If so, you have a bigger problem than it just not being level.

Not at all, just ripples from the plastic. Not ideal, but not detrimental to the structure.

 

[Burt Shaver]

It’s fine, don’t shim the trusses in my opinion. Thinking it would make putting the fascia board on difficult.

 

[carcruse]

Not at all, just ripples from the plastic. Not ideal, but not detrimental to the structure.

That's good. I would have put the wedges the full width of the studs directly below them though.

 

[BobnCO]

Foam the gap and sheath it!!

 

[thunderskunk]

That's good. I would have put the wedges the full width of the studs directly below them though.

I did add a bit more prior to flooding the gap with adhesive, but you’re right, I should have been a bit more systematic about it. The soft wood shims were useless, I had to make my own from a piece of oak I wasn’t too happy to be cutting into shims, but it worked for sure.