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Framing

What it's for

Counting the lumber for one framed wall. You give it the wall's length and height, the stud size and spacing, and any doors, windows and corners, and it gives you the stud count, the plate lengths, board feet, an elevation drawing and a material list with the stud length to buy. On a bearing wall it sizes the headers and jack studs from the IRC header table, and checks the studs against the IRC stud table, Table R602.3(5). With LOAD BEARING on, a line under those rows names the header table. A non-bearing wall is checked against the same table's non-bearing columns.

Step by step

This example uses the numbers the screen opens with.

Framing inputs: LENGTH 12' 0", HEIGHT 9' 0" with the note framed wall: floor to the top of the top plates, STUD SIZE 2x4 (2x6 beside it), SPACING 16" o.c., DOUBLE TOP PLATE on, LOAD BEARING off, DOORS 0, WINDOWS 0, CORNERS 0 and WASTE FACTOR 10%. The answer bar reads 11 studs, a green 2x4 non-bearing studs at 16" o.c.: within IRC Table R602.3(5) (24" o.c. max, studs to 14' 0"), and Bottom plate 12' 0" · Top plate 24' 0". 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Steps 1 to 8, the whole form on one screen until you add openings.
  1. LENGTH — the wall, end to end along the plate. The example is 12' 0".
  2. HEIGHT — the framed wall height, plates included: floor to the top of the top plates, as the note under the row says. The studs are cut to it less the plates. The example is 9' 0".
  3. STUD SIZE, 2x4 or 2x6, and SPACING on center.
  4. DOUBLE TOP PLATE — leave it on for a second plate lapped over the first. It doubles the top plate length and changes the stud length. Turned off, an amber line gives the single plate's conditions: on a bearing or exterior wall the IRC R602.3.2 exception (the joists or rafters centred on the studs within 1", and steel splice plates at corners and joints per Table R602.3.2); on an interior non-bearing wall a single plate is allowed outright (R602.5).
  5. LOAD BEARING — turn it on if the wall carries floor, ceiling or roof. Three more rows appear, and they decide the header size and the jack studs at each opening: BUILDING WIDTH, GROUND SNOW for your area, and WALL SUPPORTS, which is what sits on the wall, from roof and ceiling only up to two floors above. A fourth, HABITABLE ATTIC ABOVE, is on when the roof over the wall holds a room: the stud table limits 2x4 studs under one to a 32 ft roof span.
  6. DOORS and WINDOWS — how many of each. Once a count is above zero its width row appears: DOOR R.O. WIDTH or WINDOW R.O. WIDTH. Enter the rough opening, not the unit size. A HEADERS row also appears, Lumber or LVL. With Lumber you can turn on FLITCH PLATES to add steel plates to the buy list. Flitch plates need an engineer, and the list says so. On a bearing wall HEADER TOP follows: leave Under top plate when the headers sit tight under the top plate, or pick Cripples above when cripple studs stand on them — IRC Table R602.7(1) note f then cuts 2x8, 2x10 and 2x12 header spans to 70%, and the drawing shows the cripples. Last comes WIND / FRAMING ANCHOR. It sets the king studs at each opening — the full-height studs beside the jacks, which the stud count includes — from the IRC table that counts them by header span and wind. Leave ≤ 115 mph Exp B where the design wind speed is 115 mph or less, the site is Exposure B (built-up suburbs, woods) and jack studs carry the header. Pick Higher / anchored for more wind, an Exposure C site (open country, scattered trees and buildings), or a header hung on metal framing anchors instead of jacks. From 140 mph in Exposure B, 130 mph in Exposure C, or on any Exposure D site (open water, flats) the table gives no count, and the kings have to be designed. Your building department gives the wind speed and exposure.
  7. CORNERS — how many ends of this wall are corners. Each one adds studs.
  8. WASTE FACTOR — the extra you buy over the measured quantity.
  9. Read the answer: 11 studs.

Reading the results

Framing results. The answer bar keeps 11 studs and the green check, cut off at I…. RESULTS reads Bottom plate 12' 0" · Top plate 24' 0", ≈ 92 board ft, and the green 2x4 non-bearing studs at 16" o.c.: within IRC Table R602.3(5) (24" o.c. max, studs to 14' 0"), then the BASIS & WHAT WAS ASSUMED row and the link Check before you cut · Measure twice. The WALL FRAMING elevation shows a 12' 0" by 9' 0" wall with studs at 16" o.c., the 16" and 12' 0" dimensions and the title strip WALL FRAMING, 11 STUDS 2x4 @ 16" O.C., NOT TO SCALE. 10 11 12 14
The results card and the wall elevation.
  1. The headline is the number of studs to buy. It includes the layout studs, the extra studs at each opening and corner, and the waste factor.
  2. The lines under it. Bottom plate and Top plate are the lengths you cut, with no waste in them. The top plate is twice the wall when the double plate is on. Board ft covers the studs you order and the plates.
  3. BASIS & WHAT WAS ASSUMED — tap it to see how board feet were worked out. They use the nominal size, 2x4 or 2x6, not the actual size. With doors or windows it also names the column of IRC Table R602.7.5 the king studs were read from.
  4. BASIS also says what is not checked: the loads are gravity only (the wind column on Table R602.7.5 is the one wind input), so where IRC R301.2.1.1 requires wind design, or in Seismic Design Category D0 to E (R301.2.2; townhouses from C), the added rules are not applied. Nor is wall bracing laid out (IRC R602.10: braced wall lines and panels are a layout of their own).
  5. The drawing is the wall in elevation with its length, height and spacing, and any openings. Pinch to zoom, drag to pan, double-tap to reset. The expand button opens it full screen. See Reading the drawing.

The stud check holds a non-bearing wall to the table's non-bearing columns — 2x4 studs to 14 ft and 2x6 to 20 ft between supports, at up to 24" o.c. — and a bearing wall to IRC 2021 Table R602.3(5): 2x4 studs at up to 24" o.c. under a roof only, 16" under one floor and never under two floors; 2x6 at 24", 24" and 16"; and a stud no taller than 10 ft between its plates. Green reads, for example, 2x4 bearing studs at 16" o.c. carrying one floor: within IRC Table R602.3(5) (16" o.c. max, studs to 10' 0"). Each way the wall falls outside the table is a red line, such as 2X4 BEARING STUDS MAY NOT CARRY TWO FLOORS — IRC TABLE R602.3(5); USE 2X6 AT 16" O.C. OR AN ENGINEERED DESIGN, and the drawing and the cut sheet carry the same verdict. A stud over 10 ft can still be built under R602.3.1 exceptions 2 and 3 (tall 2x6 roof-only studs, or exterior studs to 12 ft by Table R602.3(6)) or an engineer's design; the red line says so, and the screen does not ask the wind, exposure and snow those exceptions need. The cut sheet also lists the building width, ground snow, what the wall supports and the attic answer, so the loads reach the paper.

The Framing MATERIALS list under the end of the wall drawing (title strip WALL FRAMING, 11 STUDS 2x4 @ 16" O.C.): 2x4 Studs — 8' 7-1/2" cut · or 104-5/8" precuts for a 9' 1-1/8" wall, 11 pcs; Bottom Plate — 12' 0" plates · order ≈ 13' 2-3/8" (10% waste) · pressure-treated on a slab on the ground with no moisture barrier between (IRC R317.1 item 3), 14 lin ft; Top Plate — 24' 0" plates · order ≈ 26' 4-13/16" (10% waste), 27 lin ft. Under it a dimmed CUT SHEET with a list icon at its right end sits beside a lit SAVE, over a dimmed CUT LIST and SEND LIST and the line Enter your own measurements to export, start a cut list or send one. 15 16
The material list and the export buttons.
  1. MATERIALS — the stud row gives the stud length: the wall height less the plates. Where a precut stud is up to 1-1/8" longer than that cut, the row offers it with the wall it builds — for a 9' wall, 8' 7-1/2" cut · or 104-5/8" precuts for a 9' 1-1/8" wall. Each plate row shows the cut length, then the order length with waste, then the lineal feet to buy; the bottom plate says when it has to be pressure-treated (on a slab on the ground with no moisture barrier between, IRC R317.1 item 3). Openings add header rows: the plies, each cut to the opening plus 1-1/2" of bearing for every jack at each end, with the stock to buy them on; the 1/2" plywood spacer the drawing labels 1/2" PLY; and the 16d nails IRC Table R602.3(1) item 10 asks for. The drawing draws one door and one window at most, and says TYPICAL SHOWN when the wall has more.
  2. CUT SHEET, the list icon at its right end, CUT LIST and SEND LIST stay dim until you change at least one input, and the line under them says so. SAVE stays lit, but while every input is still a default a tap only answers Enter your job's numbers first and saves nothing. CUT SHEET makes a PDF, the list icon at its right end shares the material list only, SAVE keeps the result in History, CUT LIST puts the list on the Lock Screen and SEND LIST sends a checkable list to another phone.
Framing's results and materials are free. The drawing, the cut sheet, cut list, send list and History buttons are part of Pro, a one-time purchase — without Pro the drawing pane shows a Pro card instead. See Free and Pro.

Common mistakes