Bathroom Wall

It's not often that you can get this far in a home construction project before learning how to frame a wall. That's SIPs for you! But even SIP houses (usually) do have conventionally framed walls, since it doesn't make much sense to use SIPs for the interior partition walls.

My tiny house only has the one interior wall, to separate the bathroom from the rest of the house. Too bad there's only one--it came together much more easily than I might have feared, and that was with me working basically by myself.

One reason why this wall was easy was that it is not load-bearing. I had already built the bathroom ceiling and supported it via bolts through the exterior walls, so all the wall has to do is stand upright underneath it. The wall design only had to account for fuzzy things like providing solid nailing for outlet boxes and plumbing fixtures, creating a frame for the finished wall surface, and getting the door opening the right size.

I built the wall in two pieces, one on the left side and the other on the right side of the door opening. For each piece, I attached the studs (vertical) to the sole plate (horizontal bottom) on the shop floor, using a speed square to make sure the sticks were good and perpendicular. I used construction adhesive and coated sinker nails to attach the pieces together, then let them sit until the adhesive dried.

I screwed the top plate (horizontal top piece) to the outermost ceiling joist, then carried the wall pieces in (with Dad's help, so they wouldn't buckle) and fastened them in place. The sole plates are screwed and glued to the subfloor, and the top ends of the studs are screwed to the top plate. Simple! The only thing to keep in mind, really, is to keep the angles square and the studs plumb (i.e. straight up and down).

To finish the wall, I will cover the studs with 1/2" plywood--probably--and paint it. I think I'll trim the door frame with some of my leftover 1x shou sugi ban cedar and cover the opening with something simple like a curtain, rather than a real door. Inside the wall will live a bunch of plumbing and electrical wiring--the latter being one of the next big projects to tackle!