Tip 4 for contractors: put something besides plywood beneath a wall

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Question to me from the old man who owned the house: "why is there a gap between the molding and the ceiling?"

[jford1]

Is it a bearing wall? As long as the joist's and floor deck are sized properly, you don't need continuous bearing underneath a non-bearing wall.

[Jeffery L. Haynes]

The term continuous bearing is ambiguous......all walls have a certain amount of load of them; load bearing walls are those with additional weight being exerted upon it other than the materials that make up the wall, such require a properly sized girder or put piers under same to account for such loads.......however all walls should have joist under them....... simply nailing a wall on top of plywood and expect it to not be a big deal is silly. An 8' wall with drywall on each side is exerting approximately 28 - 30 lbs per foot........even with Advantech OSB (best on the market) I would not want that type of weight sitting on the sheathing.

Last fall I had a customer pay me over $1500 to get the squeaks out of his house...his baby couldn't sleep for all the squeaking. In every case it was where the framers either missed nailing the floor to the joist or where there were not any joist under non-load bearing walls.

Even though its a simple fix, I would write it up.

Jeff