NYSID Materials and Methods Exam 1 Practice

In wood framing, a wall is built with horizontal plates at the top and bottom and vertical members filling the space in between. The horizontal pieces—the top plate at the ceiling level and the bottom plate (also called the sole plate) at the floor—frame the wall’s boundaries. The vertical members that span from bottom plate to top plate are the studs, and they sit in the middle of the wall plane. These studs carry the vertical loads from above down to the foundation and provide the attachment points for drywall and other finishes. Because they sit between the top and bottom plates, they are the components located in the middle of the wall frame.