Has anybody used 24 inch on center spacing for their house on both the walls and floor. This is becomming popular and is known as advanced framming but how well does it work in the real world. I have concerns about the dry wall bowing from the pressure of the insulation. also anybody use the blue foam board instead of plywood for the external wall sheathing.
All coments appreciated. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
I've owned 2 new houses in the Dallas area that had the 24" spacing for the wall studs, but concrete slab foundations. I thought the only reason for 24" spacing instead of 16" was to cut costs for the builder. While I had no problem with the 24" spacing, I'd still prefer the 16".
I cannot imagine why 24" OC is considered advanced. With 24" OC, drywall really should be 5/8". The blue foam board if we are talking about the same thing we have out here is simply for insulation and not sheathing or shear. We must still use plywood or OSB for shear.
I have ran into engineered beam floor joists ran at 19" OC, maybe 19 1/2". It was a few years ago and I was playing electrician so I just noticed it in passing. It did make it a little easier to work the Hole Hog with the extra 3". Isn't that about a half a meter? They had ran the studs at 16". It seems like you could run the studs at 19", save some money and not lose as much strength.
I don't think I've ever heard of 19" spacing. I thought the 16" and 24" spacing was used because multiples of those numbers are 48" to allow plywood, sheetrock, etc. to be attached since 4' widths are the most common. If you used some other spacing, wouldn't you have to do a lot of cutting and have a lot of waste of other material?
A lot of the engineered I joists are rated for 19 3/16" OC. I'm with you though, I always build on 16 or 24 centers. All floors are 16" OC. Walls, sometimes 16, sometimes 24, it depends on what I'm building. Rafters on mine are always 16", trusses are quite a variable. In northern Michigan, my trusses are 16" OC for snow loads. Down here in wrong end of the state, I can go 24". And I've even seen them in some pole buildings I didn't build at 48". The best thing to do is check with your local inspector, he's paid to help you, even though there are a few with ego problems, but those guys are getting rare thank God.
All of the above are from my region of the world, yours may differ. : [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Trucks are red, Tractors are blue.
What johnday said! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] You're right about the spacing. I wonder when some company will come up with a half a meter spaced "system".
Duane,
Here is a link that has some articles that discuss "advanced framing". EEBA
I don't think the overall building strength is going to be much different if properly built. What do the walls need to do? Hold the roof up and not fall over like dominoes. In my part of the world, tornadoes are a threat and it will not make any real difference @ 16 or 24, debries will come through the walls. Texas A&M has tested different wall systems and if you want tornado protection, go with a concrete wall system.
I think the main difference in 16 vs 24 is how energy efficient you care about being. 2x4 on 16 or 2x6 on 24. My vote would be for 2x6 on 24. How hard this would be to do properly depends on how complicated your house is to frame.
Let us know what you decide. I like the idea of an insulated concrete form but when I get to the point of actually doing this, I may change my mind depending on the abilities of local labor.
Gary
I think I will go with everything 16 inch on center to be safe and use 2x6 wall framming with open web floor trusses. I will start posting pictures soon as I break ground.
bgott; Just as an aside note. Take a look at most of the 25' and up contractor type tapes. At 19 3/316", you'll see a little black diamond, that's what is used sometimes for the I joist spacing. I "think" that measurement is just shy of the half meter. But, since we're in the US, I just can't bring myself to think in metric. What's the old saying? When in Rome........... [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]
Trucks are red, Tractors are blue.
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