Squaring walls

[AA7483]

Im building 2 walls in my pole barn for an office trying to find the best way to square them. Its tough to use the exterior walls as a point of reference since they are covered with corrugated metal and it's inconsistent. I tried using the saw cuts in the floor which is the most consistent point of reference but when I put a framing square in the corner its a quarter of an inch out. Should I just get it close using the saw cuts and ribs in the siding?

 

[Stuart in MN]

You're trying to get that outside corner by the door at 90 degrees? Use the 3-4-5 triangle method of measuring between the two walls; go three feet on one wall, four feet on the other, and the distance between those two points should be five feet.

 

[mitusa]

Not sure I understand the problem.......but if you're trying to get the walls square, and you are confident that the building is square, just measure whatever distance you want the walls to be from the flat on the R-panel you're using as a wall to a spot on the floor. Mark it and do the same for the distance on the ceiling. Mark it and you have where the wall should be.

If the corner of the building is square, you can't go wrong with this method....

Or maybe I'm not understanding the problem.....

 

[PCustoms]

3 4 5 (or 6 8 10 etc) is the right way to square it up.

However, with the ribs on your walls, line it up so it looks even, then live with any out of square condition. Your eyes will be drawn to a rib not parallel with the wall, not a wall 1/2" out of square.

 

[AA7483]

Problem with 345 along the outside walls is there is.no consistent place the measure from since the ribs go in and out. But i think of taking those measurements at the intersection of the new walls. But yea I thinking using the ribs and the saw cuts is better since thats what the eye will see

 

[DieselNut88]

Laser. That is what we use a work. It shoots a line 90 degrees.

 

[larry_g]

"If it looks right it is." That is what the old engineer I worked with would tell me. Our job was to move and install automated assembly machines. We would do precision layout on the floor so when the machines showed up we had a place for the riggers to place them. Once in the old guy would have the machine moved a bit so it would align with the tile floor. If not it looked wrong, even though it was not to "print".

So make them as square as you can and then if it looks wrong fudge it a bit to look right. Just not so much that the ceiling won't fit. If your not aligning to the vertical ribs then your talking plumb.

Problem with 345 along the outside walls is there is.no consistent place the measure from since the ribs go in and out.

Lay a 2x along the wall and measure from that. It will give you a straight line along the peaks of the ribs.


lg
no neat sig line

 

[The Cobbler]

lay a long straight edge along your steel wall , measure equal distances and mark floor. snap a chalk line . same for the other wall ( assuming you accept the corner is at 90) use the 3-4-5 method once laid out to double check for square .

 

[AA7483]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I'll give the 345 a shot off the back wall using a straight edge. If that doesn't look right aesthetically I'll fudge it till it does. Floor covering is the epoxy anyway so no worry about lining tile up or anything.

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[HenryAZ]

Measure corner to corner, and then again the other diagonal. When the diagonals are equal, it is square. This avoids the obvious problem of using a framing square on a large structure, i.e., a slight bow in one of the boards will make it read off.

 

[kbs2244]

"If it looks right it is."

The Parthenon, considered the best looking building the Greeks built, is out of square.

On purpose.

But, in your case, I would go with 3-4-5
It will make paneling much easier.
Just shim the outside walls to any in place ribs.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Check a sheet of plywood or drywall with a framing square, then use that as a corner reference on the floor. A giant framing square, if you will.

 

[AA7483]

I used 345 and then fudged it some to follow the lines on the ribs and cuts in the floor. Close enough and it looks good. Walls will get the same corrugated metal and floor stays as is so a little bit out of square won't matter. Thank you guys.

 

[AZ Pete]

You're trying to get that outside corner by the door at 90 degrees? Use the 3-4-5 triangle method of measuring between the two walls; go three feet on one wall, four feet on the other, and the distance between those two points should be five feet.

+1, works every time. You can use multiples of 3,4 and 5 for better accuracy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[PWC Repair]

Measure corner to corner, and then again the other diagonal. When the diagonals are equal, it is square. This avoids the obvious problem of using a framing square on a large structure, i.e., a slight bow in one of the boards will make it read off.

I'm surprised more didn't say this. Quick and accurate, this is how I've always done it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I used 345 and then fudged it some to follow the lines on the ribs and cuts in the floor. Close enough and it looks good. Walls will get the same corrugated metal and floor stays as is so a little bit out of square won't matter. Thank you guys.

I would have followed the ribs also.


If you catch something later to be out of whack where somebody else might catch it. There's an easy fix, you tell them it's an optical illusion , between the ribs running different directions and the way the light distorts the shadows or you just make up some free willy BS. Nobody will ever second guess the optical illusion BS story.

 

[Falcon67]

Measure corner to corner, and then again the other diagonal. When the diagonals are equal, it is square. This avoids the obvious problem of using a framing square on a large structure, i.e., a slight bow in one of the boards will make it read off.

Best. or maybe use a laser to lay out a line close to one wall and use that as your "zero datum", then square off that. If your laser line "looks right" to you then the wall should look right.

 

[nh_yota]

Align the top plate of the left inside wall with the ribs on the ceiling panel then use a level to plumb the bottom plate with the top plate. Square the right inside wall from the left inside wall and you're good to go. Even if the ribbed panels on the ceiling are a little out of square to the building, you want the wall to line up with the ribs in the panel or else it will look funny.

 

[Radix2]

Measure corner to corner, and then again the other diagonal. When the diagonals are equal, it is square. This avoids the obvious problem of using a framing square on a large structure, i.e., a slight bow in one of the boards will make it read off.

This is the way to do it. Easy, accurate.

 

[Radix2]

Also, for a wall square to a long wall, no need for 3,4,5 monkeying around.

Measure any convenient distance from the intersection point in both directions. Mark any convienient distance out on your wall bottom plate ( or any straight board). The distance from the two points on the wall to the point on the board must be equal.

Easy way is to drive small nails into your wall bottom plate at the equal distances, another in your proposed wall bottom, hook your tape and go.

 

[sierradmax]

If the outside walls aren't square and you are set on squaring the inside walls to each other, I would move the wall with the door. It seems you followed the ceiling panel "rib" with the wall that doesn't house the door. If you moved this one, your eye would catch a wall nonparallel with the ceiling panel.

 

[Samh]

"If it looks right it is."

The Parthenon, considered the best looking building the Greeks built, is out of square.

On purpose.

But, in your case, I would go with 3-4-5
It will make paneling much easier.
Just shim the outside walls to any in place ribs.

I thought it was just out of plumb so as to appear straight when viewed because of it's size.

 

[biggziff]

As my grandfather used to say..

"A good molding man can hide a lot of sin"

 

[lango]

Guy working on a barn I had, once, said to his helper at one point, "we ain't building a peeanner here" (piano).

 

[AA7483]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Hope I remember it next time I need it!