Chapter 3 Exercises

These exercises are designed to take you from theory to hands-on observation of your home's framing system. Many require access to a basement, crawlspace, or attic — along with a flashlight and the willingness to look carefully at familiar spaces.

Exercise 3.1 — Lumber Grade Stamp Scavenger Hunt

Objective: Practice reading lumber grade stamps on dimensional lumber in your home.

Time: 30–45 minutes

What to do: Find at least three pieces of exposed structural lumber in your home — in a basement, crawlspace, garage, attic, or any unfinished space. For each piece:

  1. Locate the grade stamp (usually on the wide face, somewhere near the end of the board).
  2. Identify: grading agency abbreviation, mill number (if legible), species abbreviation, moisture content designation (S-DRY, S-GRN, KD-15), and grade designation (No. 1, No. 2, Select Structural, Stud, etc.).
  3. Note whether the member is a horizontal member (joist, beam, rafter) or vertical (stud, post).

Reflection: Given the grades you found, do the horizontal members appear to be appropriate grades for their application? (No. 2 or better is appropriate for floor joists and rafters; Stud grade is only appropriate for vertical stud use.)

Exercise 3.2 — Identify Your Home's Framing Type

Objective: Determine whether your home uses platform framing or balloon framing.

Time: 30 minutes

What to do: In your basement, crawlspace, or at an exposed section of exterior wall framing (often visible in a garage or utility space), look at the intersection between the wall framing and the floor framing.

Platform framing indicators: - Floor joists sit on top of the wall (on the top plate or on a ledger on the foundation wall) - Each floor's wall framing appears as a separate layer above each floor platform - Blocking or the floor sheathing creates a complete horizontal barrier at each floor level

Balloon framing indicators: - Wall studs appear to run continuously past the floor level (you can follow a single stud through multiple stories) - Floor joists are notched into or hung from a ribbon/ledger board attached to the side of the studs - There is NO complete horizontal barrier at the floor level — you can see up through the wall cavity from basement to upper floors

Note: If you find balloon framing, check whether fire blocking has been added at the floor levels (horizontal pieces of lumber across the stud cavities at the floor line).

Exercise 3.3 — The Floor Joist Direction Survey

Objective: Determine the direction your floor joists run and map this against your wall layout.

Time: 45 minutes

What to do:

  1. Access your basement or crawlspace and look at the floor joists for the floor above. Note the direction they run (which two walls do they span between?).

  2. On a simple sketch of your floor plan, draw a series of parallel lines representing the joist direction.

  3. Now mark the positions of all significant interior walls on the same sketch.

  4. For each interior wall, note: does it run parallel or perpendicular to the joist lines?

  5. Walls perpendicular to the joists are candidates for bearing walls. Mark them in one color. Walls parallel to joists are more likely to be partitions. Mark them in another color.

This is a preliminary load-bearing assessment, not a definitive one — but it's the foundational layer of the analysis from Section 3.7.

Exercise 3.4 — Find Your Main Girder

Objective: Locate and assess the main structural beam (girder) in your floor system.

Time: 30 minutes

What to do: In your basement or crawlspace, find the main girder — the largest beam in the floor system, typically running along the centerline of the building's long axis.

For the girder, note: 1. What material is it made of? (Dimensional lumber? LVL? Glulam? Steel I-beam? Built-up lumber — multiple pieces of 2x lumber bolted together?) 2. How is it supported at its ends? (Resting on the foundation wall? On a pocket in the foundation wall? On a ledger?) 3. What supports it in the middle? (Posts on footings? Masonry columns? Adjustable steel columns?) 4. Does it appear level? (A significantly sagging girder warrants professional evaluation.) 5. Is there any visible rot, splitting, or damage?

Exercise 3.5 — Wall Opening Anatomy Inspection

Objective: Find and identify the components of a rough opening framing assembly in your home.

Time: 20 minutes

What to do: In an unfinished space (garage, basement, attic, or utility room) where framing is exposed, find a wall opening — a door or window rough opening where you can see the framing around it.

Identify and label (in your notes and a photograph): - The king studs (full-height studs on each side of the opening) - The trimmer/jack studs (shorter studs supporting the header) - The header (horizontal beam at the top of the opening) - The cripple studs above the header (if any) - The rough sill (for a window opening) - The cripple studs below the sill (for a window opening)

Measure the header dimensions. For the same size opening in a bearing wall, would this header size be appropriate? (Reference the rough sizing guidelines from Section 3.3.)

Exercise 3.6 — Attic Framing Inspection

Objective: Determine your roof's framing system type and identify key components.

Time: 30–45 minutes

Safety note: Attic access requires care. Step only on structural framing members (the top chords of trusses or rafter locations), never on insulation between joists — there is no floor to catch you if you step between them. Wear a respirator (blown-in insulation is an irritant), and take a quality headlamp.

What to do:

  1. Access your attic through the attic hatch (typically in a closet or hallway ceiling).

  2. Determine the framing type: - Trusses: You'll see triangulated structural assemblies with diagonal web members. The bottom chord of the truss creates the ceiling plane and the top chords form the roof slope. - Stick framing: Individual rafters running from the exterior walls to a ridge board or ridge beam at the peak. You'll see ceiling joists running horizontally at the wall-plate level.

  3. If you have trusses: note whether any truss members are damaged, cracked, or modified (any cuts are a serious concern).

  4. If you have stick framing: note the condition of the ridge board, the rafter tails at the eaves, and whether the ceiling joists are present and intact (they resist outward thrust — any missing or cut ceiling joists are a concern).

  5. Look at the ventilation: are there soffit vents (at the eaves) and a ridge vent or gable vents? Adequate attic ventilation prevents moisture accumulation and ice dam formation.

Exercise 3.7 — The Load-Bearing Assessment on One Interior Wall

Objective: Apply the complete load-bearing assessment framework from Section 3.7 to one interior wall in your home.

Time: 60–90 minutes (including attic and basement checks)

What to do: Select one interior wall in your home that you're curious about (perhaps one you've considered removing, or one that seems to be in an architecturally significant position). Work through the full assessment:

  1. Basement/crawlspace check: What joist direction are you below this wall? Is there a beam, post, or other structural support directly below this wall's position?

  2. Joist direction: Does this wall run parallel or perpendicular to the floor joists?

  3. Vertical continuity: Does this wall appear to continue on other floors? Does anything appear to be bearing on it from above?

  4. Attic check: Is there any post, wall, or framing above this wall in the attic or ceiling space?

  5. Position in the building: Is this wall in the center of the building? Near an exterior wall? In an obviously subdivided space?

  6. Preliminary verdict: Likely load-bearing, likely non-bearing, or unclear.

  7. What would you do next? Based on your preliminary verdict, what level of professional verification would you want before any modification?

Exercise 3.8 — Floor Bounce Assessment

Objective: Evaluate your floor system's deflection performance.

Time: 20 minutes

What to do:

  1. Walk slowly through each room and note whether any floor sections feel noticeably springy or bouncy compared to others.

  2. Stand at a point with noticeable bounce and estimate: does the floor deflect under your weight? Can you feel movement when someone walks nearby?

  3. Place a level on the floor at several points. Note any areas where the floor is not level. Is the slope consistent (suggesting uniform settlement) or localized (suggesting a problem under one area)?

  4. In the basement or crawlspace below any bouncy floor section, examine the joists: are they the expected size and spacing? Are any joists notched, cut, or damaged? Is any joist missing end bearing (sitting correctly on the beam or plate)?

Note: Some bounce is normal, especially in older homes with longer joist spans or lighter framing. Bounce that has developed over time or is concentrated in one area warrants investigation.

Exercise 3.9 — Identify Engineered Lumber in Your Home

Objective: Find and identify any engineered lumber products in your home's framing.

Time: 30 minutes

What to do: In any accessible framing area, look for:

  1. I-joists: Look for floor joists that have an obvious "I" cross-section — OSB web with solid flanges top and bottom. They look completely different from solid lumber joists.

  2. LVL beams: Large beams that appear to be made of many thin veneers. Often a golden-yellow color with a very clean, consistent surface. Typically stamped with the manufacturer's name and structural data.

  3. Glulam beams: Large beams made of clearly visible laminated layers of lumber. Often have alternating growth-ring orientation visible at the end grain.

  4. PSL (Parallel Strand Lumber): A dense, dark-colored engineered beam material with visible strand texture. Often used in highly loaded applications.

Note the location and size of any engineered products you find. If you have I-joists, locate the manufacturer's label — it will specify the series and depth, which you can use to look up the allowable span and load tables online (most manufacturers publish these freely).

Exercise 3.10 — The Balloon Framing Fire Blocking Audit

Objective (for pre-1950 homes only): Determine whether fire blocking has been installed at floor levels in balloon-framed walls.

Time: 30–45 minutes (requires basement or attic access, possibly with exploratory investigation)

What to do (for homes with confirmed or suspected balloon framing):

  1. In the basement or crawlspace, look at the wall framing at the floor level. In balloon framing, the studs continue past the floor — but there should be blocking between studs at the floor line to prevent fire travel.

  2. In the attic, look at the top of the exterior wall framing. Are the wall cavities blocked at the top plate level, preventing open communication between the wall cavity and the attic?

  3. If you find open, unblocked stud bays at floor or ceiling levels in balloon framing — note this as a fire safety concern. Retrofitting fire blocking is code-required in most jurisdictions when doing renovation work in balloon-framed buildings, and is a sound practice regardless.

Note: Consult a framing contractor or building inspector about the appropriate blocking specification for your situation before attempting to install it yourself.

Exercise 3.11 — Document Your Framing Profile

Objective: Create a framing summary for your home.

Time: 1 hour

What to do: Using the observations from all previous exercises, create a one-page "framing profile" for your home, including:

  • Framing type (platform or balloon)
  • Foundation type (from Chapter 2 exercises)
  • Approximate joist direction and size (if observed)
  • Main girder material and support type
  • Roof structure type (trusses or stick-framed)
  • Any engineered lumber products identified
  • Any framing concerns noted (damaged members, improper notches, suspected bearing walls)
  • Preliminary load-bearing wall assessment for your main floor

This profile becomes part of your home's records — the kind of documentation that saves significant money and time when you eventually do renovation work.