49: Plumbing and Lining the Walls

After walls are raised and secured, they need to be straightened. Plumbing is making them vertical and square and lining is just getting them all in a line so they are straight.

All the carpentry books show examples of multiple people doing the plumbing and lining. That’s great when you have helpers to push and pull, and then another man renails the braces in place. But how do you do it by yourself. Actually, it isn’t that hard. You just need a way to make an adjustment (push or pull something) and then have a way for that adjustment to stay put while you renail the brace.
At that same welding supply store where I got the pulleys I came across some large turnbuckles. Humm, I says to self, I’ll bet I can use that to plumb and line my walls. Sure enough, it worked great. I buried one end of the turnbuckle in a plywood sleeve that fits over the end of a 2x4 brace. The other end gets clamped to the top of the wall. Now I can tighten or loosen the turnbuckle and in the process make small adjustments to the top of the wall. All my walls are nice and straight now.