Framing & structure · Charlotte, NC
Square. Plumb.
Level.
Interior walls, additions, load-bearing removals, joists, headers and rot repair. Framing is the one trade nobody ever sees again — which is exactly why it has to be right the first time.
What we frame
New structure,
and old structure
put right.
Everything in a house hangs off the frame. Cabinets, tile, trim, drywall, doors that close — all of it is only as good as the timber behind it. When a finish carpenter says a house is “out”, this is what they mean.
Interior walls
New partitions, closets, bulkheads, pantry and laundry builds. Framed to layout, plumb, with blocking where anything will be hung later.
Load-bearing removal
Opening up kitchens and living space. Engineered beam, temporary shoring, posts carried to footing, engineer-stamped drawings.
Additions & bonus rooms
Floor systems, walls, headers, rafters and sheathing. Tied into the existing structure properly rather than bolted on.
Floor & joist repair
Sagging, bouncing, cut-through and rotten joists. Sistered, replaced or supported, with the cause dealt with first.
Sill plate & rim rot
Where the house meets the foundation. Termite and water damage cut out, shored, replaced and re-anchored.
Openings & headers
New doors and windows through exterior walls, cased openings, wider passages. Header sized for the span, not for convenience.
Diagnostics
Eight signs you have
a framing problem.
Most of these get treated cosmetically for years — caulk the gap, plane the door, re-tape the crack. If you’re doing the same repair for a third time, the problem isn’t the repair.
Doors that stick or swing open on their own
The frame has moved out of square. Planing the door treats the symptom; the cause is underneath.
Sloping or bouncy floors
Undersized, cut or rotten joists, a failed girder, or a settled pier. Drop a marble and watch where it goes.
Cracks running diagonally from door and window corners
Drywall cracking at 45° from a corner is movement in the framing behind it, not a bad tape job.
Gaps opening between trim and wall, or crown and ceiling
Something is separating. Caulking it closed every spring is how people ignore a structural problem for a decade.
A ridge or hump in the floor over a wall below
Classic sign of a bearing wall doing work it wasn’t designed for, or a beam that’s deflecting.
Soft, spongy floor near a bath, shower or exterior door
Water has been getting into the subfloor and joists. By the time it’s soft underfoot, the framing is already gone.
Daylight or draughts at the sill plate
Rot or termite damage where the frame meets the foundation — the worst place to have a problem and the easiest to miss.
A previous owner’s ‘open plan’ with no visible beam
Somebody removed a wall without carrying the load. We see it more than you’d like to think.
Interior framing · in progressLoad-bearing work
The wall you want
gone might be
holding the roof.
Removing a bearing wall is a completely legitimate, routine piece of construction — when it’s done as an engineered job. It becomes dangerous when it’s done as a demolition job.
- Assessment — joist direction, stacked walls, attic and crawl space checked before anything is promised
- Licensed structural engineer sizes the beam and the posts, and stamps the drawing
- Temporary shoring installed both sides before a single stud is cut
- Beam set — LVL, PSL or steel — and posts carried continuously to a footing below
- Then drywall and paint made good in the same contract
Materials & fixings
Boring detail
that matters.
Framing failures are almost never the timber. They’re the connection — the wrong nail, the wrong hanger, or the right hanger fixed with the wrong fastener.
How the job runs
Four stages.
Investigate
Attic, crawl space, basement, and a small inspection opening if needed. We find out what’s actually happening before quoting a solution.
Protect & shore
Floors covered, dust contained, temporary support installed and checked before anything structural is cut.
Frame
Cut, set, plumb, brace and fasten. Photographed at every stage so you can see what went in behind the drywall.
Make good
Once the work is signed off: insulation, drywall and paint to match — so the room looks like it was always that way.
Framing questions
Asked and answered.
Can you take out a wall to open up my kitchen?
Usually, yes — and the first job is finding out whether it’s load-bearing. We look at the direction of the joists above, what’s in the attic, what’s in the crawl space or basement directly beneath, and how the roof loads down.
If it is bearing, you need an engineered beam sized by a licensed structural engineer, posts carrying that load continuously down to a footing, and a permit and inspection. We work alongside the engineer, shore the ceiling temporarily, set the beam and make good the drywall and paint. The permit itself is pulled by the homeowner or by the licensed contractor of record on the project — we’ll tell you which applies to your job and build to the approved drawings.
Anyone who offers to take out a wall for cash, this week, without any of that, is offering to make it your problem later.
Do I need an engineer, or can you just do it?
For anything load-bearing, an addition, a beam span, or repair to a failing structural member: yes, and we’ll insist. It typically costs a few hundred dollars, it produces a stamped drawing the inspector will accept, and it means the number under your family is calculated rather than estimated.
For non-structural work — a partition wall, a closet, framing out a bulkhead or a bathroom — no engineer needed and often no permit either.
How do you know if a wall is load-bearing?
Signals we look for: joists running perpendicular to the wall and landing on it; a wall stacked directly above another wall on the floor below; a wall running down the centre of the house parallel to the ridge; a beam, girder or pier line beneath it in the crawl space; and double top plates.
None of those is proof on its own. Where there’s any doubt we open a small inspection hole rather than guess — it’s a twenty-minute job and a patch, and it’s far cheaper than being wrong.
Can you repair rot rather than replacing everything?
Often yes. Sistering a new joist alongside a damaged one, scarfing in a new section of sill plate, replacing a rim joist or a run of studs — all standard repairs. What matters is that the water source is fixed first, and that the repair is fastened to sound timber at both ends.
We’ll show you exactly what we found with photos before we close anything up.
Will framing work need a permit?
Structural work almost always does: removing or altering bearing walls, additions, new openings in exterior walls, beam and joist replacement, and anything changing the footprint. Non-structural partitions usually don’t. Where one is required, it’s pulled by the homeowner or the licensed contractor of record on the project — we’ll tell you straight which applies before any work starts.
How long does an addition or a bonus room take to frame?
Framing itself is fast — a bonus room or a modest addition is typically 1–3 weeks of framing once the foundation is in. Permits and engineering ahead of it, and mechanical, drywall and finish behind it, are what make the whole project a multi-month job. We’ll give you a realistic overall schedule, not just the part we’re doing.
Free estimates · Fully insured
Something moving
that shouldn’t be?
Send us a photo of the crack, the gap or the sag. We’ll come and look for free and tell you honestly whether it’s serious.