Wall plates

Readers Question:
What is the proper design for wall plates when the wall is longer than the length of one 2x4? For example. If the wall is 20ft long but your 2x4s are anything less than that, say 12'.

John's Answer:

This is a great question! Basically any combination of lumber added together to get your 20' will work.

The picture above is shown ( I hope you can make it out!) using bottom plate equaling 8' and 12', and also top plates being the same.

Build your first shed wall with the 8' bottom plate and 8' top plate. The pic shows wall studs at 16" on center. You can either leave off the stud in the middle where the 2 wall sections come together or build both of your wall sections with a double wall stud. In otherwords build each section with a stud nailed right on the end.

The picture shows one wall stud split between the two wall sections but not added in until you put your 8' wall section and your 12' wall section together.

You can then add the very top wall plate (picture shows a double top wall plate) but stagger the lengths so that the ends don't match up. Also leave the top wall plates 3.5" short so that you can tie in your adjacent walls that but in to the corners.

I also use treated lumber for my bottom plates, but regular lumber for the rest of the shed wall plates and studs.