Interior Framing

While the quality of this picture is not the greatest, it does show the structure of our most impressive wall. It is the one you see when you enter the front door. It stands 13.5 feet at the apex, and is 28 feet wide. All of the interior walls are built on the same basic principle as this one. I started with standard wall studs set on pressure treated 2x4s screwed into the concrete floor. I then topped them with more 2x4s to give me an 8 ft wall. Since the ceilings range from 7 ft 9 inches to 13 ft 6 inches, the remainder of each wall had to be custom measured, cut, and set into the ceiling. First, another 2x4 is laid on top of the existing ones to add strength. Then each piece of wood at the top of the wall is screwed into the concrete ceiling between the risers that connect back down to the standard wall. Fortunately, I had a lot of help with this part of the work since I do not do well on ladders, nor could my arm hold out for all of the drilling into the concrete ceiling.


This picture also shows the framing in the "hole in the wall" between modules. Since we use this as part of our hallway, only part of the opening is closed in.

This is a view of part of the hallway in the left hand module. You can see where the standard height wall ends, and the extended wall begins. You can also see a closeup of the ceiling work. Notice we used pressure treated wood here too. Any wood that directly contacts the concrete must be pressure treated.


Finally, here is the front room wall with all of the drywall up. In the pictures you can see (from left to right) openings for a bathroom, the kitchen, the kitchen serving window/eating bar, 2 closets, and another bathroom, the hallway to the right module, and the guest bedroom.

Let me take a moment to add a cautionary warning. Make sure you get a good drywall crew. I used cheap, and somewhat inexperienced labor and am paying for it every day now. Anytime I want to work on a room, I first have to fix the drywall mistakes, ugly seams, and mismatched edges. It is taking a lot of my time, and it is frustrating work. Don't skimp on this part of the job!