Best way to do board sheathing?
The few times I’ve done board sheathing over a stud wall, I did it like this:
1. With the stud wall layed out on the ground, I measured up 6′ on the outside edge of the wall from the bottom plate.
2. I measured 8′ across the bottom edge of the bottom plate.
3. I put a mark on my first board about 3″ from the end then measured and marked 10′ from the first mark.
4. I laid my first board across the stud wall, lining up the first mark on the board with the mark I made 6′ up from the bottom plate and put in a nail.
5. I lined up the other mark on the board with the other mark along the bottom plate and nailed.
6. I checked for square, then nailed the board all the way down.
7. I layed out all the other boards from the first board and nailed them down.
8. I ran my circular saw all the way around to trim the boards flush with studs and plates.
It sounds complicated after writing it out. In practice, I didn’t find it all that onerous.
I am curious if the procedure I followed is the best or easiest way to do board sheathing?
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I would not trust a 6'-8'-10' triangle as a gauge to square a wall that's, for instance, 32' long. There's too much of a multiplication factor for a small error to grow large.
For any wall, however sheathed or braced, I snap a line along the floor deck representing the inner edge of the wall and toe nail the bottom plate to the deck at that line with the nails exiting as close as possible to the edge of the plate that is on the chalk line. These nails become hinges to allow the wall to be raised without sliding off the deck and landing pretty much right on the chalk line (then removed and slight adjustments made before nailing down the plate.
With the wall flat on the deck and toe-nailed to the chalk line, I measure the full diagonals either with the same tape or two tapes that have been calibrated against each other, adjust the wall to square and toe-nail both corners to the deck to hold in place.
Then sheathing, whether panel or boards, gets nailed on, adjusting studs for o.c. spacing if necessary. I've both cut diagonal board ends after installation or cut first and then nailed down, sometimes cutting the 45° end that lands on an intermediate stud in place with a saw set to the depth of the board.
Then the temporary toe-nails at the top plate are removed, the wall lifted (sometimes with the help of a home-made wall jack (4x4 post with boat trailer hand winch, cable and pillow block pulley on top, and door hinge on the bottom to secure to deck).
Almost always, the bottom plate hinges up close enough to the chalk line that I can sink several nails before removing the temporary "hinge" nails. Side braces are already nailed to the two end studs so that they follow the wall up and are ready to nail off the the rim joist when the wall is plumbed.
Pretty standard industry procedure. The main thing is to square the entire wall and not just one corner that could have a warped stud.
I do it the same way as Robert. (Or did back when I was a framer) but by driving the bottom plate nail from the inside of the wall diagonally through so it comes out of the corner of the bottom plate right where the chalk line is I can tilt up the wall without having to go back and remove the hinge nail in most cases. It may seem like a minor point but is actually more of a safety trick. if you come in from the bottom of the wall the nails pull out of the floor as you tilt up the wall and the wall can slip or you can tear your shoes up on the point of the nail later kicking the wall to the line.
That's what I said. But I've never had the entire plate end up exactly on the chalk line, so minor adjustments are always necessary, and I use duplex nails for all temporary nailing which makes removal easy.
Yes, I always check the entire wall for square before driving in a bunch of nails. I can be a bit fussy about things like this. I have never noticed being too far out starting with the 6/8/10 but your point is taken... I have never built wall sections greater than 16' at a time...