How to Space Frame a Room

Snap chalk lines on the floor to square up the room. Use the chalk lines as reference points to establish the bottom plate perimeter around all four sides of the room. Drop a plumb bob at various points from the top plate of the room’s perimeter to ensure the walls will be perfectly vertical as well.

Check for any needed structural support before framing the room walls. Build an I-beam for a basement room, if needed, to add strength to the room's ceiling. Ask an expert carpenter to review these kinds of needs with you. Build a load-bearing wall on one or more sides of the room if prior builders have failed to include enough structural support. Construct an I-beam or header for a load-bearing wall using several 2-by-4-inch boards nailed together and then bolted together as a single unit.

Nail or screw the bottom plate into the sub-flooring or a basement's concrete floor. Add a top plate around the top perimeter of the room as well, driving nails into ceiling joists.

Cut 2-by-4-inch boards to form room studs using a circular saw. Measure the exact height needed for each stud individually, so the cut board will fit snugly between the top and bottom plate. Install studs on 16-inch centers, meaning it will be 16 inches from the center of one stud to the center of the stud beside it.

Create a window header or door header by installing two king studs from the top plate to bottom plate, and a header board across the opening where the door edge or window edge will fit. Cut trimmer studs to hold the king studs in place.

Use 2-by-6-inch studs on walls that will hold plumbing pipes or drains running through the studs. Use deeper boards if you want your exterior walls to have thicker insulation.

Construct a closet space with door openings while nailing up framework for the room. Figure out where plumbing or electrical wiring will fit in the framework as well.

Cut the bottom plate anywhere you will have a door or closet door in the room. Use a hand saw to take out the exact width you need for the door and surrounding door jamb material.