4 Framing 4.1 Materials 4.1.1 Boards And Timber 4.1.1.1 Dimensioning. Unless otherwise specified, all boards and timber shall be S4S dimensioned. All dimensions called out herein are nominal dimensions unless otherwise specifically noted. 4.1.1.2 Quality. All boards and timber shall bear a WWPA (Western Wood Products Association) grade stamp. 4.1.1.3 Grade And Species. Unless otherwise specified, all load-bearing joists, rafters, and headers shall be Douglas Fir, of "Standard And Better" (Number 2) grade. The wall studs shall also be of Douglas fir, but may be of "Stud" grade. Plates and all non-load-bearing boards and timber may be "Utility" (Number 3) grade of any wood species generally used for such purposes, unless particularly specified otherwise elsewhere herein or on the design plans. 4.1.2. Plywood 4.1.2.1. Quality. All plywood used on this job shall bear an APA (American Plywood Association) grading stamp. 4.1.2.2. Size. You shall obtain all wall plywood in 4'x10' sheets; you may obtain roof plywood in 4'x8' sheets. All sheets shall be APA-rated as "sized for framing," being 1/8 inch short of nominal all around. 4.1.2.3 Thicknesses. All sheathing plywood shall be of nominal 1/2 inch thickness. 4.1.2.4 Type. All sheathing plywood shall be of a quality and type suitable for external sheathing. Any plywood for inside use shall be made with phenol-formaldehyde ("P-F") resins and shall contain no urea-formaldehyde ("U-F") resins. 4.1.3. Siding. The siding material shall be appearance- grade all-heartwood western red cedar boards and battens. The boards shall be rough-sawn 1"x10" S1S2E stock and the battens 1"x3" stock, all of the appropriate length for vertical application (9'8-1/2" minimum). 4.1.4. Acclimatization. You shall acclimate all wood products to the building site environment in full accord with the published recommendations therefor of the Western Wood Products Association. 4.1.5. Caulk. The caulking material throughout shall be the proprietary product "Mono" (The Tremco Company; 10701 Shaker Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44104). 4.1.6. Nails. All nails exposed to weather and visible when construction is complete shall be of stainless steel, so as to avoid rust runs. 4.2 Wall 4.2.1 Sole Plate 4.2.1.1. Placement. A sole plate of 2"x4" board shall be placed all around the building perimeter; its outer edge shall be flush with the perimeter of the foundation wall. 4.2.1.2. Seal. You shall place a compressible sole seal between the slab and the sole plate; this seal shall be effectively continuous around the complete perimeter of the wall and shall be installed in complete conformity to its maker's instructions. Suitable products are Plymouth Foam products "Poly-Seal," Owens Corning "FoamSealr," or substantially similar. 4.2.1.3 Anchoring To Foundation 4.2.1.3.1. Method. All sole-plate segments shall be anchored to the foundation by means of anchor bolts embedded in the stub wall, so placed as to penetrate the center line of the sole plates, as described at 3.1.7; all attachments shall be made with suitable washers under the nuts, and all bolts, after final tightening, shall extend at least 1/8 inch above the top of the nut. 4.2.1.3.2. Placement. The anchor bolts shall be spaced no farther apart than four feet. Moreover, no sole-plate segment shall be anchored farther than 9 inches from any corner or other joint or break in the sole, and no segment shall have fewer than two bolts anchoring it. 4.2.1.3.3. Final Fastening. You shall apply a final tightening to all sole-plate anchor bolts just prior to installation of the wall insulation. 4.2.1.3.4. Shear-Wall Anchoring. The two 4-foot shear panels on the south wall shall each contain an anchor bolt between the center stud and each of the two end studs (two anchors). 4.2.2 Top Plate 4.2.2.1. Placement. You shall place a top plate comprising a pair of 2"x4" boards atop the studwall, aligned at all points with the sole plate. 4.2.1.2. Joint Alignment. Joints in the paired top-plate boards shall all be over studs, shall not align, and shall be lapped at all corners. 4.2.3 Studs 4.2.3.1. Placement. Studs shall be 2"x4" boards placed vertically at 24 inches o.c. unless otherwise specified on the plans. On each wall, the first studs in from the corners, which are special cases as described at 4.2.8 below, shall have their centers a compensating distance in from the actual corner stud: on the long walls, that distance shall be 23-1/4 inches in from the center of the corner stud (24 inches in from the edge of the sheathing plywood); on the short walls, it shall be 20-1/4 inches (24 inches in from the edge of the sheathing plywood). 4.2.3.2. Height. All studs, except cripples as required, shall be 115-1/2 inches in height, so that with the sole plate and top plate thicknesses the wall height is 10 feet, leaving the sheathing plywood bottom flush with the slab top. 4.2.4 Headers 4.2.4.1. Use. You shall provide headers over all special construction, such as windows and doors, that interrupt one or more studs. 4.2.4.2. Supports. For each opening interrupting one or more wall studs and thus requiring a header over, you shall nail header supports of 2"x4" stock to the inner sides of the studs defining that opening. The height of the supports shall be the height of the top of the rough-opening area, as specified on the plans. You shall apply double beads of caulk continuous from top to bottom between each support and its associated stud. The rough-opening size shall be as measured between the inner faces of the header supports. 4.2.4.3. Construction. Headers shall be made of two parallel, equal-size boards, sized as described at 4.2.4.4 below, separated by cut-to-size 1/2-inch XPS or EPS sheet with the properties described at 3.1.2.1 above, nailed or otherwise secured as necessary. 4.2.4.4. Sizing. Header boards shall be 2"x6" stock for bridging widths up to 72 inches and 2"x8" stock for widths over 72 inches but not exceeding 96 inches. 4.2.4.5. Cripple Studs. You shall run cripple studs from all headers to the top plate, every 24 inches o.c. from the true studs defining the opening. 4.2.5. Entrance-Door Opening. If the required entrance- door rough opening is narrower than 43-1/2" then you shall provide a special stud for its south side; you shall frame the north side with the regularly placed stud. 4.2.6 Window Openings 4.2.6.1. Width. The rough-opening widths for windows shall be 22-1/2 inches for fire-egress bedroom windows and 43-1/2 inches for all south-wall windows. All window openings shall be centered between regularly spaced wall studs as shown on the design plans. 4.2.6.2. Height. The fire-egress windows' rough-opening height shall be 45 inches; all other window' rough-opening heights shall be 87 inches. 4.2.6.3. Elevation. The fire-egress windows shall have the rough opening bottom 26 inches from the slab top; all other windows shall have the rough opening bottom 13 inches from the slab top. 4.2.6.4. Sill Supports. You shall run sill supports of 2"x4" stock between the header supports or studs defining the rough opening with their top faces at the height of the bottom of the required rough-opening area as specified on the plans. Double-bead caulking shall be applied at the support-stud contact area. Cripple studs shall be provided from the sole plate to the sill supports every 24 inches o.c. from the true studs defining that window area. 4.2.7. Corners. The four wall corners shall each be framed as shown on the corresponding detail drawing. 4.3 Sheathing & Siding 4.3.1 Sheathing 4.3.1.1. Placement. You shall install all wall-sheathing plywood with the long dimension vertical. The sheathing on the long walls of the building shall just lap the sheathing on the shorter sides of the building, which latter shall thus just butt between the former, as shown on the design drawings. 4.3.1.2. Joints. You shall center all wall plywood joints on studs. You shall make all joints with the plywood sheets (which are 1/8 inch short of nominal dimension) spaced 1/8 inch apart. 4.3.1.3. Gluing. You shall fully perimeter-glue all plywood sheathing sheets with an appropriate glue as well as nailing them as described at 4.3.1.4 below. 4.3.1.4. Nailing. You shall attach all sheathing plywood by face-nailing with 8d annular-ring nails to the framing at 4-inch intervals around the perimeter and 6-inch intervals over the intermediate stud; nail penetration shall be a minimum of 1-1/2 inches. You shall take great care to assure that all nails are placed in accord with the recommendation of the A.P.A. for plywood shear-wall nailing. 4.3.1.5. Caulking. You shall run a continuous caulk bead down the gap between adjacent sheathing sheets. 4.3.1.6. Openings. You shall run sheathing right to the edge of every rough opening unless the instructions from the maker of the window or door specify otherwise, in which case the coverage shall be as specified by that maker. 4.3.1.7. Trim. You shall use a 1"x1" horizontal trim to mask the joint between the plywood sheathing and the soffit (as described at 4.5.6.2, below). You shall use a generous caulk bead on the inward and upper surfaces of the trim. 4.3.2 Siding 4.3.2.1. Basic Pattern. You shall apply the cedar siding, as described at 4.1.3 above, in a batten-and-board pattern, with the boards all applied heart side out; the interboard gap over battens shall be 1/2 inch. The inter-batten spacing shall be 10" o.c., with placing adjustment at the corners as discussed at 4.3.2.3 below. Board nailing shall be spaced at 16" vertically. 4.3.2.2. Placement & Continuity. The house proper, the garage as described at 12 below, and the enclosed area between the house and the garage as described at 13 below shall be treated as a unit for the purposes of applying siding. The exterior of the east wall of the garage and the west wall of the house shall, however, as described at 13 below, be finished as interior walls. 4.3.2.3. Trim Around Openings. Any siding interrupted by a door, window, vent, or other opening in the wall shall be continued both above and below such opening, as possible, after application of such trim as is required by good practice. All trim shall be of the same material as the battens, well caulked as appropriate. 4.3.2.4. Corners. Siding at the corners shall be applied in accord with the corresponding detail drawing. All corner battens shall be applied over continuous double caulk beads; moreover, all butt joints shall also be caulked between the battens (that is, at the long-wall batten edge). 4.4. Siding Finish. No stain or other such treatment shall be applied to the cedar siding, which is to be left to natural weathering. 4.5 Roof Framing 4.5.1. Type. The roof support shall be prefabricated trusses designed for 2-foot o.c. spacing and suitable for the loads of the roof, as described at 4.5.6 and 5. below, plus 30-pound snow loads. 4.5.2. Length & Span. The trusses shall be so designed as to span 32 feet without support. The trusses shall, however, extend horizontally 36 feet, so as to extend 24 inches beyond the outer edge of the top plates on the north and south sides of the house. 4.5.3. Pitch. The trusses shall be so designed as to provide a roof pitch of 5:12. 4.5.4 Truss Installation 4.5.4.1. Handling. You shall, in general, follow the recommended procedures of The Truss Plate Institute's "Commentary and Recommendations for Handling, Installing, and Bracing Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses" (HIB-91). You shall also follow exactly all requirements of the truss maker for handling and installation of the trusses. You shall carefully inspect each truss for possible defects; if any such are detected, you shall not attempt any field repair but shall require the truss maker to repair or replace the potentially defective truss. 4.5.4.2. Placement. The trusses shall be put in place by mechanical (versus manual) means, employing adequate slings, tag lines, booms, or spreader bars as required to control movement of the truss and prevent lateral bending. That shall include use of a spreader bar with chokers that toe in to 1/6 to 1/4 pickpoints; you shall not use a toe-out choker, which might buckle the truss. Trusses may be erected singly or in pre-assembled groups of four or five on the ground and then lifted into place. 4.5.4.3. Secural. Each truss shall be secured to the top plates with appropriate metal hurricane anchors or clips as well as by adequate nailing. 4.5.5. Insulation Substrate. 4.5.5.1. Ceiling Covering. All ceiling area to be insulated shall be covered with 1/2"-thickness fiber-reinforced gypsum board nailed to the truss bottoms prior to application of the insulation. 4.5.5.2. End Stops. Vertical stop boards, to contain the ceiling insulation foam, shall be placed between all truss pairs containing insulation backing; the stop plates shall have their inner faces approximately flush with the wall-sheathing inner face. They may be secured by toe nailing, scrap blocks, or other suitable means. 4.5.6. Roof Sheathing. 4.5.6.1. Placement. The roof-sheathing plywood shall be installed in a running-bond pattern with the long axis running parallel to the roof ridge. 4.5.6.2. Joints. All short-end plywood joints shall be centered on truss elements. All joints shall be made with the plywood sheets (which are 1/8 inch short of nominal dimension) spaced 1/8 inch apart. 4.5.6.3 Gluing. All plywood sheathing sheets shall be fully glued with an appropriate glue as well as being nailed as described at 4.5.6.4 below. 4.5.6.4. Nailing. The sheathing plywood shall be attached by to the framing in any manner approved by code and good practice as recommended by the A.P.A.. 4.5.6.5 Caulking. A continuous caulk bead shall be run down the gap between adjacent sheathing sheets. 4.5.7 Attic Venting 4.5.7.1. Ridge Vent. You shall install a continuous ridge vent, as manufactured by Air-Vent, Inc., the full length of the house. 4.5.7.2. Soffit. You shall install a soffit board extending from the house sheathing to the outer end of the truss bottom. In that soffit board you shall provide soffit intake vents from Air-Vent of an area as recommended by that manufacturer for the size of ridge vent being used. All intake vents shall be carefully screened with the finest- mesh insect screen available. 4.6 Wall & Ceiling Insulation 4.6.1. Material. Insulation shall all be insulated by application of sprayed polyurethane foam of a type that will cure and age to at least R-value 6.9 per inch. The foam shall be installed by an appropriately experienced specialist subcontractor selected in consultation with us. 4.6.2. Thoroughness Of Application. You shall supervise the subcontractor in the installation of the insulation, taking extreme care to see that the material completely fills all cavities, especially in corners and around openings such as those for windows and doors, that it fully surrounds all wiring, piping, or other conduit, and that it bonds fully to all studs, truss members, and conduit. 4.6.3. Timing Of Installation. Insulation shall be applied after application of external sheathing and installation of all in-wall wiring or plumbing in walls or ceilings to be insulated, and after installation of the end stops described at 4.5.5.1. 4.6.4. Method Of Application. The insulation shall be applied from inside the structure, and shall completely fill the inter-stud or, as applicable, inter-truss spaces. Care shall be taken at corners and around all openings to assure complete fill. 4.6.5. Fire Barriers 4.5.6.1. Ceiling. After application of the foamed-in insulation, a layer of blown-in cellulose insulation of thickness sufficient to meet code requirements for a fire barrier shall be applied above the foam throughout. 4.5.6.2. Walls. After application of the insulation but prior to application of the finish wall covering described at 6.1.2 below, all foam-filled walls shall be covered with 1/2"-thickness fiber-reinforced gypsum board, obtained in 4'x10' sheets for vertical application. 4.7 Windows 4.7.1. Type. All windows shall have a pultruded fiberglass frame and no grills. 4.7.2. Maker. The window manufacturer shall be Thermotech Windows (109-42 Antares Drive; Nepean, ON; Canada K2E 7Y4; 613-225-1101). 4.7.3. Sizes. Window sizes shall be as specified in the elevation drawings and Window Schedule. The rough-opening sizes shall be as described at 4.2.6 above. 4.7.4. Operability. All windows shall be fixed, inoperable windows excepting the fire-egress windows, which shall be operable casement types. Those shall each open to the right: that is, the operating crank shall be at the right as seen from inside. 4.7.5. Installation. All windows shall be installed in exact accord with the manufacturer's recommended procedures. Foamed-in insulation shall be placed around each window so as to bond to both the window frame and the rough opening and completely fill the space between; the insulation shall be "Insta-Seal" as made by the Flexible Products Company. Care, as recommended by the window maker, shall be taken when applying the insulation to not distort the window framing by foam expansion. 4.7.6. Screens. You shall supply screens for all operable windows, by the same maker as the window. 4.7.7. Flashing. If not explicitly provided for in the window manufacturer's installation instructions, flashing shall be provided over every window. 4.8 Entrance Door 4.8.1. Size. The entrance door shall have an opening of at least 36 inches wide by 80 inches high. 4.8.2. Insulation. The door shall have a whole-door average R value of at least 8. 4.8.3. Type. The door may be a premade assembly, installed in exact accord with the manufacturer's recommended procedures, or may be made on site in accord with the owner drawings supplied. 4.9 In-Wall Wiring And Plumbing 4.9.1. In-Wall Plumbing. No plumbing shall be run within any exterior wall. No plumbing shall penetrate any exterior wall except as specifically described at 4.10.3 below. 4.9.2 Perimeter-Wall Wiring 4.9.2.1. Allowed Wiring. In-wall wiring in exterior walls shall be restricted to the absolute minimum necessary to provide interior wall outlets required by applicable codes. Where such outlets may be required, they shall be of the minimum obtainable depth. 4.9.2.2. Wall Penetrations. No wiring shall penetrate any exterior wall except as specifically described at 4.10.2 below. 4.10 Service Entrance 4.10.1. Location. All services that enter and leave the building envelope shall do so through the north wall in the area containing the water heater and main electrical service panel, located as shown on the design plans, except for the cold-water supply as described at 2.7.3 above. 4.10.2 Electrical Passages. All power or signal wiring or cabling entering or leaving the house as described at 4.10 above shall do so through appropriate connectors, plugs, sockets or suchlike mounted in the wall; no wire or cable shall pass through the wall directly. All such pass-through connectors shall be as airtight and weatherproof as reasonably possible and shall be thermally well insulated with sprayed-in insulating foam around them and, to the extent practicable, inside them. 4.10.3 Plumbing & Sewage Passages. All water or sewage piping entering or leaving the house as described at 4.10 above shall be firmly secured to prevent any motion in any direction and shall have the passage opening well and thoroughly sealed against air and weather, including sprayed-in insulating foam around all such pipe passages.