FRAMING- WEEK ONE
It is recommended to use sustainably grown kiln dried wood for healthy homes when framing because the drying process kills mold spores and sustainably grown wood will not have pestisides. We decided to use sustainably harvested air dried wood because the studs were guaranteed to be below 20% humidity upon arrival and because we live in a very dry climate in the summer and the studs will have ample time to dry out before we install the hempcrete infill. Also the lumber yard we purchased wood from (Casey Wood) moves allot of wood so it doesn't have as much of a chance to stay wet while stacked and start molding.
We cut our 2x6 studs to 13 ft lengths and attached the top plates that come with the Smiling Woods Yurt roof kit. Then we raised each section and toe nailed them to the soul plates. The 2x6 studs are framed to be in the center of the 12" hempcrete infill. Doors and windows were pushed out 2" from the 2x6 studs to create deep interior window sills that will be functional and beautiful.
Scott Usedome (our builder) cut curved double top plates out of 3/4" OSB. These are cut 8ft long to over lap the 4ft top plates that were used as a template. Nailing these double top plates to the top plate helped stabilize the wall and made sure the top of the wall was in alignment with the soul plate. Before adding the double top plates we attached 1x4 diagonal bracing and braced the wall from the inside while checking for plumb from the top plate to the soul plate.
We balanced each stud to find the top and bottom of the tree. The heavy side is the bottom. We made sure that we placed the stud with the top of the tree up to honor the wood that will stand in the wall.
