Re: Ballon Frame Construction

[Jerome M Headley]

To the Forum,

Does anyone have wall section and framing details for “Ballon Frame Construction” who would be willing to share with me?

I have a client who has a 3 unit apartment which is ballon frame construction.  The structure (2-story) was being in 1933 and may have been a single family residence originally but I’m haven’t been able to obtain the exact history of the structure.  I do know that when my client purchased the structure in 1995, it was already 3 units.  When the structure was built, it was at the time when lumbar milling techniques were changing as I can see the saw marks on the original wood framing.

Having to do fire-stopping details for my state Fire Marshal Office submittal.

Appreciate the help.

Take care

Jerry Headley

Architect

615-299-6572

[Neil Blanchard]

Hi Jerry,

I live in a circa 1915 house that is balloon framed.  I have done a fair
bit of work on it, so I can tell you what I have seen. Lumber is rough
sawn, and not planed, so it is not very consistent.  It is typically
close to the nominal thickness, and depth tends to be slightly under the
nominal size; though not as much as is the standard today.  Saw marks
and some bark and wane on the joists and rafters.  2x4 and 2x8 sizes,
mostly.

In my house, the second floor joists are supported on a let-in piece of
strapping, and they is through-nailed into the studs. They used 20 penny
spikes, and the wood is Douglas fir - so the nails hold very well.  I
think the let-in ribbon strapping is not always used in balloon framing.

I used a section of rock wool (semi-rigid) batt, cut to a snug friction
fit at the floor joists for fire blocking.

[James Horecka]

Not "ballon" frame: BALLOON frame. As in the floaty thingies.

Balloon framing was common way of quickly knocking-out multistory light-duty wood-framed structures a century or so ago, before it was pushed-out by Western Platform Framing, which is the norm today.

Balloon framing pushed out timber framing. Houses could be built with less skill, labor and time with balloon framing than timber framing.

For a two-story structure:

As I'm sure you know: In western platform framing, stud walls are built story by story. The second floor is built atop the first-story stud walls, sheathed, and then the second-story stud walls are built atop that deck and tilted up. Etc.

In balloon framing, the perimeter stud walls run the full height of both stories, sill to eaves.

Just below the bottom of the joists of the second story floor framing, "ribbands" are "let into" notches in the the studs. The floor joists are run long, outside of wall to outside of wall, get set bearing (sorta) on the ribband, and are face-nailed to each stud, which they each flank.

Here are some problems with this:

1. No perimeter chord at the floor diaphragms, on walls where the joists frame into the wall at right angles.

2. The stud bay spaces are open from the crawl space all the way up. Even at the plane(s) of the floor(s). These form potential chimneys. So if a fire were to start low down, the fire could zip into the stud bays, accelerate right up those flue spaces, into the joist bays, maybe even into the attic. Then POOF, the entire house is blown away in minutes. Yikes!!!!

Modern codes require fire stopping at such junctures, where that function is not already achieved by other means. In platform framing, the top plates already handle the job.

Modern codes also usually dictate fire stopping in wood-framed walls at maximum 10' intervals, both directions. I hope everyone is detailing/noting this on their plans and details. Because if missed, it can amount to unhappy change orders if an inspector catches the lack thereof and orders it done after the framing is complete. Soffits and bump-outs, too.

In balloon framing:

If the place is as-built, then you likely have open stud bays, from bottom to top.

You can fire-stop the connections at the floor plane. You must fire-stop both the vertical runs (stud bays), and the transitions to any horizontal spaces (joist bays).

Some jurisdictions may allow you to deal with the chimney effect by using solely insulation. Something to look into, maybe. Some won't allow fiberglass insulation for this purpose, only rock wool. I've used both for this purpose, AHJ-approved.

If you're tearing the plaster off, you have lots of options, right?

If you're not touching anything: "Existing/Non-conforming." It's up to your client and his asset insurer.

James Horecka, AIA

-----Original Message-----
From: 'Jerome M Headley' via DataCAD-DBUG <dataca...@googlegroups.com>
To: DataCAD Forum <dataca...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Apr 12, 2019 8:55 am
Subject: DBUG> Re: Ballon Frame Construction

To the Forum,

Does anyone have wall section and framing details for “Ballon Frame Construction” who would be willing to share with me?

I have a client who has a 3 unit apartment which is ballon frame construction.  The structure (2-story) was being in 1933 and may have been a single family residence originally but I’m haven’t been able to obtain the exact history of the structure.  I do know that when my client purchased the structure in 1995, it was already 3 units.  When the structure was built, it was at the time when lumbar milling techniques were changing as I can see the saw marks on the original wood framing.

Having to do fire-stopping details for my state Fire Marshal Office submittal.

Appreciate the help.

Take care

Jerry Headley

Architect

615-299-6572

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