Construction Guide

This chapter explains the installation of Yankee Barn wall panels on your post and beam frame. When complete, your walls and most of your windows will be in place, ready for installation of the roof panels.

The wall panels for your Yankee Barn are built on an in-line wall table in our shop. Working on the flat surface, we build sucessive panels for each side of the house together. This process is both efficient and ensures fit when your Yankee Barn is raised on-site.
Yankee Barn offers both "closed" and "open" wall panels. Both your specifications and the legend on your plans will indicate what kind of wall panels will be supplied with your Yankee Barn.
"Closed" panels have the insulation, vapor retarder and the inside finish (drywall) installed at the Yankee Barn shop before they arrive on the building site. The closed panels are usually used where there is a post and beam frame, since it is difficult to insulate behind the timber frame, and the finish is neater if the drywall runs behind the beams.
For buildings with less frame such as attached entries or structures, "open" panels are often supplied. "Open" panel walls have no interior finish. They are available with Yankee Barn Homes' rigid insulation or uninsulated. The builder must install a vapor barrier, and hang the drywall or panel them. This is done after they are assembled.

WALL PANEL INSTALLATION - QUICK GUIDE:

4.2.1 Blueprints
Yankee Barn will supply a wall elevation plan sheet that indicates the location and number of each wall panel. Each panel has a letter and a number code: A-1, A-2, etc. The letter “A” stands for the first level panels, the letter “B” for the second level panels, and “C” for the third level panels. Most panels are 8'-16' wide and 8'-12' high. Panels requiring a site-installed top plate will be noted on the plans with a “VTP” (Very Top Plate) note.

4.2.2 Installation of Closed Wall Panels
Yankee Barn closed wall panels are designed to be installed quickly with the use of a crane or a telescoping boom forklift. Shell assembly crews typically spend two working days for the main building on this phase.

We frame the panels with conventional studs and plates, and install windows, insulation, vapor retarder and interior finish.
Numerous options are available, including different siding and interior finishes. Both vertical and horizontal sidings (cedar clapboards and shingles) are shipped loose, ready to be installed over the CDX plywood sheathing after the wall panels are assembled.
Most homeowners select our standard veneer plaster base drywall (blueboard) as the interior finish. Alternate interior finishes may be CDX plywood for Yankee Barn site installed vertical shiplap. Such differences will be specified on your plans and in the specifications accompanying them.

Lifting the Panels:

The panels are heavy, so use plenty of help (or the forklift or crane). All panels are installed working left to right as viewed from the exterior.

In the grocery box are ten panel lifting plates. Fasten at least two to a panel with 3" T-30 drive screws, as shown (See Illustration 4.2.3: Lifting Instructions Detail). Be sure the screws go into solid framing.

Everyone should keep out from under panels as they are lifted by the forklift or crane. This is a good time to look over the floor plans and decide where extra attention should be paid to soundproofing, such as at bedrooms and baths. While the wall panels are being installed, this is the time to block air-borne sound between the panels and the timber frame.

Illustration 4.2.4: Wall Panel Corner Details




1. Next, apply the eave wall "A" panels, proceeding around the building in a left to right fashion (as viewed from the outside). The first wall panel should be placed so that the edge of the panel is flush with the outside of the CDX plywood sheathing of the gable end (See Illustration 4.2.4: Wall Panel Corner Details). This and the other corners will be squared off and finished later, after the crane is no longer needed. After completing the lower panels, place the upper "B" panels into place.
2. Apply panels on the next gable end in the same manner as the first, starting at the left 1/2" in from the frame and working right.
3. The last panel on the eave wall is made slightly narrow to allow for accumulated imperfections in the placement of panels along the wall. Therefore, don’t be surprised if the wall comes out an inch or so short. This space will be adjusted with filler strips later on.
4. Complete the remaining eave wall in the same fashion as the first.
5. When complete, all the wall panels will be secured in position, and most of the windows will be in place. Finishing details on the exterior walls will be accomplished after the roof is complete and the crane is gone: installation of pre-hung entry doors and/or terrace doors, installation siding finishing of the corners and panel joints, and installation of pentroofs, skirt boards, and other trim (Barn style trim).

4.2.5 Vertical Connections Between Panels
The wall panels are connected together with tongue and groove joints (See Illustration 4.2.5: Wall Section Before and After Connection).

1. Predrill the panels and screw into the post and beam frame, using 9" Screws on 16" centers. The panel should be screwed along the top into the girt line. At the corners, the gable walls are screwed into the corner posts. The eave walls are screwed into the gable walls at the corner.
2. At all structural posts, the wall panel should be screwed into the post 16" o.c. with 9" screws.
3. To seal the vertical joints between panels:
   In the “grocery box” you will find foam tape. On the second panel, apply a continuous strip of foam tape to the groove of the panel joint before hoisting the panel into position. Foam tape is a spongy material which reduces the chance of air infiltration between panels. It is compressed when the panels are drawn together.
4. Apply a bead of construction adhesive to each inside lip of the groove. This further reduces air infiltration.
5. After the panels are installed, on the exterior nail through plywood on the groove side of the panel into stud on the tongue of adjacent panel with 8d galvanized nails at 6" o.c.
6. After the shell assembly process is complete, and the crane is no longer in use, you will go back and finish the joint by folding the air infiltration barrier or building wrap over the joint. Check to make sure all screwing and nailing have been done.

4.2.6 Upper Panels Connections

To seal the horizontal joints between panels:

1. Be sure the top of the lower panel has been screwed to the girt with 9" screws @ 16" o.c. Glue and apply foam tape, as on the vertical joints.

Illustration 4.2.6A: Horizontal Wall Construction Detail




1. Guide the “B” upper panel into place.
2. Screw the top of the panel into the 6 x 6 beam using 9" screws, 16" o.c.

3. For gable wall panels that are at the top of the wall, the way they are attached depends on whether or not there is a roof overhang at the gable ends. See the details on your roof layout plan.

   On the gables, screw the top of the panel into the 4x gable rafters with 9" screws at 24" o.c.

   On buildings with no gable overhang (usually Mark I or Carriage House): The plywood on the wall panel are long so they uplap onto the edge of the roof. After the roof panels are installed, nail through the CDX plywood with 10d nails at 6" o.c. into the roof. Also screw through the roof into the wall with 12" screws, 16" o.c.
   

4. Fasten the bottom of the panel by nailing through the shiplap and CDX into the 2 x 6 top plate of the lower wall with two 10d galvanized common nails per piece of shiplap.
Illustration 4.2.6B: Eave Detail




Illustration 4.2.6C: Horizontal Wall Construction Detail




5. After the panels are set and the crane or forklift is no longer in use, go inside the shell and secure the wall panels to the second floor band joist from inside. Screw through the band joist into the wall studs or the horizontal blocking with 1/2" x 4" screws at 16" on center. The bottom of the horizontal blocking is located flush with the bottom of the band joist. (See Illustration 4.2.6C: Horizontal Wall Construction Detail.)

4.2.7 Installation of Open Panel Walls
Yankee Barn “open” panel walls generally consist of 2 x 6 framing but come from Yankee Barn with no interior finish and are available with or without Yankee Barn Homes Rigid Insulation. The exterior is much like the closed panels with CDX plywood, building wrap, windows, and window trim is installed. They are structural walls normally used in smaller add-on structures, garage type buildings, or buildings that do not require a complete structural post and beam frame at eaves. First floor wall panels are normally kept small (under 12' wide and under 8' high) to permit installation by hand. Some builders use a forklift or loader to install first floor walls.
The panels are installed and fastened using standard construction procedures. The panels are not undersized as are closed Yankee Barn wall panels so the last panel on each elevation may need to be trimmed to fit. If you install open wall panels with a post and beam frame, you will need to place a poly vapor retarder behind each post and beam before installing walls. Leave enough poly to tape to your site-installed vapor retarder.
Also add a 5/8" x 3" plywood spacer strip to each post and beam, so there is a space between the frame and the wall panels to slide the drywall into.

Several points to keep in mind while installing open panels:

1. Start with one eave wall, then the gable continuing around the building.
2. Always work left to right (from the outside).
3. Start the left end of first panel flush with sill or deck.
4. Very top wall plates are loose-shipped for site installation and must overlap top plates at panel joints and corners. Look for the “VTP” marked on the plans.
5. CDX plywood will downlap over the sill or deck and lap at corners.
6. Screwing is the same as conventional structural framing at all plates, corners, and plywood laps.
7. Builder will have to install post and partition blocking to receive dry wall.

Open wall panels usually have Yankee Barn provided second floor deck materials and/or pre-cut rafters. The second floor is installed using conventional framing methods. Any second floor wall panels are installed after the second floor is installed, and usually require a telescoping forklift or crane. Pre-cut rafters are also installed using conventional construction practice. The Partial Frame/ open wall panel designs are available with pre-cut rafters or Yankee Barn Roof Panels.