Building a New Home: Framing, Level and Square

Framing a New Home is one of the critical components of a building a new home. 

If you frame a new home with a simple rule, you will allow the rest of the home building to go much more smoothly and with greater ease.  Keeping the walls level and corners square are very critical to trimming out doorways, setting cabinets, putting counter tops in place, etc...  If you allow the framing to get out of balance, you will create a loss in time and materials later in the construction process.  It will take more time to make the cuts to fit the trim around the doorway and windows.  If you mis-cut the angles, you can waste precious materials.  Think about it!

There is a simple formula you can use to make sure any corner, doorway, window, basement wall, etc... is square and level.  It is the 3,4,5 rule.  What is the 3,4,5 rule?  Most of us thought we would never use geometry after high school and college, well, it can make the difference in the way your new home is built.  The 3,4,5 rule is the use of a 30, 60, 90 degree triangle where the short leg (x) measure 3 inches, then the prependicular side (y) measures 4 inches, making the longest side to measure 5 inches.  Here's a sample of how to use it.

Using the formulas:

EASY:

Find x and y.

x is the short leg Answer

y is the long leg Answer

If you use this formula, you can assure yourself that corners, walls, doorways, etc... will be square.  This matters later as doors are set and trimmed.  Ever have a door swing open when you left it ajar?  Level the wall, my bet is that's it's not plumb.  Ever have a gap from one side of the door to the other?  Measure it to see if it is square, my bet is that you will find it doesn't met the 3,4,5 rule! 

So now you can take this simple geometry into building your new home! 

Other references on building a new home are as follows:
Structural Floor Supports
Basement Tips
Critical Construction Components
Common Mistakes

David L. Britt