Homeowner Forum / Construction / August 2005

In a previous post Mark Smigel wrote...

Yes  <grin>

Either one is acceptable.

- Mark Smigel -

- Nehmo -
Another way, if circumstances permit, would be to temporarily place the
sheeting in position, and draw pencil lines where you need to cut.  Take
the sheeting down, and cut along the lines. But it it’s a simple cut and
things are square, just measure and cut. The idea is to not waste one
sheet.

Let's just say that a framer I used to work for two decades ago called
method B as "Chinese".  Any cutting in a squatting, sitting, laying down, or
standing up at the house itself.  He was very animate about doing as much as
possible on the sawhorse instead of in place.  Any in place cutting he
regarded as implied lack of craftsmanship.  The only exception he commonly
allowed was lookouts for hanging the fascia.

I built a addition to my garage and worked by myself.  Kids helped when it
came time to raise the walls into place.  I found it better to nail the full
4x8 to the studs while the wall was horizontal on the floor.  Gave me the
perception of more stability when raising and plumbing.  Once a starter hole
was drilled, I cut the door and window openings with a router and a 1/2"
bottom bearing flush cut bit.

Yes, I did have waste, but can use (most of) those pieces for odd patches
when is sheath the roof.

Greg

I sheathed our walls while they were still laying on the floor. This made
them a bit heavier, but it was easier to square-up and nail everything.

When it came to the door and window openings, I tried leaving the sheathing
in place and cutting out the window after the wall was up. Using a circular
saw, it meant setting up a ladder in the dirt outside the building and
climbing up to cut the window opening. Sawdust blowing back at me, and the
cutouts dropping onto the ladder. I didn't care for that method. Slow,
potentially dangerous, and messy.

For the rest of the house I cut out the openings while the wall was still
sitting on the ground. A couple of quick measurements, snap a chalkline or
two, and a quick pass with a circular saw. It worked great.

The only exception was a "window" wall we have in our living room. With all
the headers and posts and whatnot, it was quite heavy even without the
sheathing. So we tilted that up and sheathed it after it was up. I then
used a reciprocating saw with a 12" blade to cut out the window openings
(from inside the building). It worked well too, especially with our large
round top window.

I didn't try it, but I've heard you can also use a pattern cutting straight
bit (bearing at the bottom), to follow around the window framing and cut
out the sheathing. But, I didn't have a router handy when we were framing
the walls.

Anthony

   Most of the guys in my area use a router.  They sheathe the wall
fully, stand it up, then plunge into the opening with a piloted
flush-cut bit (after drilling a starter hole).  Run the bit around the
perimeter and voila - a perfect rough opening.  This is what we did on
my house and it worked out great.

Richard Johnson PE
Camano Island, WA