How to Raise a Wall By Yourself
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Learn how to use wall jacks and plan ahead. Pay attention and keeps risks to a minimum.
...and don't fall off a ladder! Watch this: • How to Not Fall Off A ...
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"Sometimes Sketchy is the way to go!" Words to live by,
I loved that part too
Me too! You beat me to the comment. It is the truth though.
Also words many have died by. Choose wisely.
@@adamschaeffer4057 Yes, sketchy can mean certain disaster
I think they should put that on a tshirt😂
You should consider writing a book. Just from your U tube channel alone you’ve told us about your time as a logger, carpenter, blacksmith; I’ve even seen you lay block and pore concrete. You’re the quintessential American that’s becoming scarce these days. Im glad I get to watch and learn new things from you. Thank you for sharing.
I’m sure he is working on one I hope so
My old uncle, a general contractor and ex navy SeaBee, had a set of wall jacks he made himself. They were clear western cedar 4x4’s with a hinged steel flange at the base, and a boat trailer winch mounted about 3’ up. The winch was loaded with 1/4” cable with a hook at the end.
He could (and did) raise complete, sheathed walls, all by himself, with total control and safety. He was a very smart guy.
You know that sometimes after the dust settles, I hear myself say..."should of thought that through a little more". Good video for those of us that work by ourselves most of the time. Thanks for all that you do Scott!
It blows my mind that i have never heard of these wall jacks before. I just bought a pair from an auction a few days ago and now this very helpful video drops. Thank you.
4:50 if you don't want to drill in the slab you can just use strap to secure the base of the jack to the base of the wall.
And run a screw with a fender washer through the strap so it can't slip up.
I'm right there with you on doing it by your self. My schedule usually never fits any possible help or I just prefer to do it alone. Yeah I've done stuff that was sketchy at best, but always try to add the safety aspect to the work being done. I've use Hijacks for different things, but never came across a wall jack. Thanks for the video. 👍
I did smile at your admonition of, "do pay attention"...OMG, this is soo lost in today's workforce. I don't mean to sound negative but, so many folks in the workforce today, don't possess the common sense to put their arse out if it were to catch fire...Ohh.. there's an app for that? Dang..I need to download that sucker!..Thank you for all your quality videos. I am your age and I can truly relate... Gravity ALWAYS wins...I have the merit badge;
I have used wall jack for years and years; or should I say decades and not for walls only; they can also be used for lifting large beams when you’re solo. Used to rack the walls on the deck and fully sheet the walls before lifting and the wall jack works wonderfully. All the cautions you mentioned are correct,plus a few more; experience and good head work with them makes for a safe job.
I have used mine for lifting boats off of trailers. You can put legs on your wall that pivot on a bolt and act as safety that you don’t need to keep adjusting. If you are worried about those kicking out you can put a 2 by 6 down with cross strips to act as ratchet.
back in early 80s I bought Proctor wall jacks...aluminum two piece pipe with comealong mounted on them...I built lots of houses with walls papered.. t 1-11 plywooded. aluminum windows installed 1x4 trim..stained and lifted..all by myself..this is on a downslope with 16' of underpinning..no scaffold at all...great fun...not fancy by today standards but thats how it was done.with creative rigging could lift garage door headers also...the two jacks are still in the rafters of the shop i think..
100% - huge fan! I built a 10x12 "she-shed" entirely by myself. The only time I had help was lifting a 3x3 skylight onto the roof. Being a 'fancy' build, it had many windows and a big door, which meant lots of extra king studs and lots of heavy headers at the top of a wall, so even raising a simple 12 foot wall was quite a task for one person. That wall jack made it incredibly easy (if not a wee bit sketchy)
Not a carpenter but I watch a lot of these videos, it seems to me this is one of those cases where you want just a few light diagonal braces on your wall frame rather than fully sheathing the wall with OSB or plywood before it's raised, less weight for the jacks and less "wind load". And if you are having a bad day and the wall comes down it might be easier to extract yourself from the mess. Good video.
Mr. W, I would work with you in any industry any day. And if you don’t know, I will. These videos you do have motivated me in the best way. To build so over code compliment even California would get ideas. Thank you for everything. Again and again.
All your videos have done is to make me just that much harder to work with. I want it done correctly and everyone wants to get it done quick and cheap!
Thanks for that Scott! LOL
God Bless you SCOTT!”Still doing it” and doing it WELL!👍👍
I’m up there in digits with you, but these old knees would have had to set this demo up on a table.😉
Thanks for always making my Day!🙏😇
Thank you so much for these videos. I love them. I’m 50. Been working an office job for 28 years and dream everyday of building my own house. My plan is to quit in 2 years and follow my dream. Already have the lot on the north coast of CA in Mendocino county and just submitted my coastal development permit.
I've used these for years. Like any tool, they're only as safe as the user. In addition to carefully examining your 2x4 for knots, especially those that go through the longer way, (3 1/2" direction), like on the first 2x4, and also weird grain that goes the same way, there are a few other safety concerns to be aware of.
*Scenario 1; you've gotten the wall up onto two of three or more jacks and the weight is holding them in place. You slightly raise the third one and it takes the weight off of the one next to you. Without a hint of warning the jack board tips sideways and cracks you right on the head, neck or shoulders. Even if you're wearing a hard-hat, (lol), you're going to get badly hurt.
*Scenario 2; the wall is halfway up and you need to position a ladder, grab a brace, or are finishing the lift by hand, and you leave the jack-handle in the jack. (As seen at 6:45 in the video!) Again; the slightest motion of the wall or jack can cause that heavy steel handle to fall right on your head, neck or shoulders.
Helpful hints:
*To get the top of the wall off the floor cut a long wedge out of a 2x and drive it under the wall plates near one end. When it's a couple inches off the deck, slide a stud under and lever it up higher. Get one 2x6 block under it edgewise and work your way down the wall until the whole wall is that high. Lay your jack board on the wall with the end sticking over and slide the jack on at your leisure.
*Not noted in the video is that the bottom plate must be toenailed to the line or you're going to have big problems. (All professional framers already know this, but newbies might not!)
*For a large wall with very little bottom plate, secure pieces of lumber strapping to the bottom of the bottom plate and down to the deck to form a hinge.
*Lift multiple jacks at the samd rate so all the weight doesn't end up on one jack and break the board.
I've seen every single one of these things happen more than once!
Love this channel, Thanks Scott
Everyday is a school day, always learning something
Cheers from Oz
Wow thanks for sharing this. I wish I knew about this a year ago. I built a large bookshelf out of 2x12 dimensional lumber and realized I was too old and fat to lift it up into place fully assembled, So I finished assembly in place giving an inferior result to what I would've gotten if I put it all together on the floor first. I will happily add this to my mental tool kit for the next time I have occasion to build such an item.
I had an idea, long ago, to build a tool rental business catering to the solo worker. I was going to call it "Loaner".
That's pretty good. I'm always building alone. Most of the time, help isn't help.
@@FullCircleTravis yessur help means chat around here lol
Very nice
I have been using this very type of wall jack since I turned 75 several years ago. They are amazing. They take the licking and I keep on ticking. Best of luck,
Epic Saturday morning episode. Learned a lot! Thank you EC.
Very informative general contract knowledge; Thank you Essential Craftsman, as always well done.
yup, I have used them lots of times, works pretty good with lifting a header into place too. sometimes your wall is too big to lift all at once so you break it up into 2 or more sections, once in awhile the header has to be lifted in place after the fact. I have lifted walls into place with out them and after the fact I wished I had taken the time to use the wall jacks.
Nicely done.
I know your fishing trip to Alaska is behind you now but if your still fishing, here's a compliment, nicely done!
I have utilize a second 2x4 that has had mine wedges glued and screwed end to end. That sits beside the wall jack and is also blocked to the floor. As the jack goes up the top plate skips over the mine wedges like a ratchet.
“What could possibly go wrong” ... “if you understand mechanical advantage “... not a lot!! I teach my son that all the time.
Make sure you check the release before you start raising the wall up high. I got a defective one before and luckily I checked because it just dropped and if it’s above your head and for whatever reason you have to lower the wall you can only imagine how bad that would be.
My wife and have built two houses all on our own from the ground up. Never had those. We just raised em up on to saw horses, took a second and went for it. All turned out well. Those sure do look hand though.🙃
Sir, I would love to see a video series on renovating an older home that needs the utilities upgraded. I’ve got somebody that is redoing a bathroom and the only thing she cares about is what color the walls are. Our electrical is from 1957. There are a few updated plugs and outlets but they are only 2 wire.
She’s scared to do it because she doesn’t know anything about it. I’d love to see you do a series on renovations so I can show her what we really need to do.
Help!
The framer that framed my house had 1 large ballon that was built to hold 3 4x6 windows and patio door. The framer used 3 wall jacks to lift the wall after he used Simpson metal strapping nailed and screwed at the edge of the wall to floor. He screwed in 2x4 cleats on the floor, right next to edge of the wall. The long 2x4’s were lagged screwed near the top of the wall on the edge studs. As the wall was raised, the floor end of the long 2x4’s fell into the cleats, like a follower gear. Really slick and fairly safe.
I've raised a few shorter walls by myself. The 16 foot long wall was actually easier to raise up than the 8 foot long wall. I'm getting some wall jacks! It was a royal pain, and I finally ended up just building the 8' long walls standing in place, because i warped the one I tried to raise from the ground. I finally stood it up, but the one built vertical was straighter. With the 16 foot wall, I used blocks and shims, raising the wall little by little until it was a little less than 45 degrees from vertical, then I found I could push it up the rest of the way pretty easily. I tied the bottom of the wall with tension in the opposite direction to keep it from kicking out off the foundation. The 8' long wall didn't have the extra bottom bulk to offset the height of the wall, and I couldn't push it up even when it was almost all the way up. It would slip, it would fall ... especially because I'd put the door right in the middle and had nothing in the middle that I could reach when the top of the door was over 6' off the ground. I'm short. Nope, I'm getting wall jacks for the rest of the house! I'd never heard of them until your video.
"Sometimes sketchy is the way to go."
-Scott Wadsworth
😂❤
2 suggestions
1 rig a tether oit out a long ratchet strap to twther the bottom of the lift board to the top of the sill to het purchase on a slab.
2 rig a safety strap over the top plate to mitigate tip over. Or just a tether at the top plate at every jack point.
Very nice, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the awesome content and great video!!
"nobody likes to work with me so I've gotta work by myself" you and me both, Scott
It's hard to believe that nobody likes working with him.
I built my house by myself with those same jacks . Life saver if you know how to prepare yourself for the inherate risk that comes along with those jacks. All my walls were 2x6 9ft tall too.
I’m a fan of the old proctor wall jacks, but these can be used as a giant clamp. I work by myself, been doing so for most of my career as a carpenter. I’m also a fan of a masdam rope puller and 4 or 5 to one blocks. My old lugg all occasionally gets to play as well.
"Keep yourself alive in a pinch" interesting way of putting it. 😊
I've got four, and have used them for some pretty heavy lifts. Tall walls are much scarier. Generally speaking, the jacks are great, but you do not ever want to be in a position where you have to lower a wall with them -- the mechanism is sketchy. Use the best 2x4 you can find (instructions say fir, but we generally can't find it here). Replace them after they get too chewed up. Don't align the jacks to lift where you have headers at the top of the wall (in other words, its better if they completely hook under the top plates). If you have to jack from a ladder, try to position it so you will get pushed over, but not end up under the wall. You can also use a spade bit slightly larger than your wall jack handle diameter to mortise a 2x4 and extend your reach, to stay out of the danger zone.
I've lifted sheathed 2x6 walls up to 14' tall x 24' long, but they get pretty sketchy around 12' wall height, and we take a couple additional actions -- if the 2x4s are flexing significantly mid-lift, we'll stick some 2x under the wall to prop it up in place, while we nail another 2x4 to the jack pole from the bottom of wherever the jack has climbed up to, down to the deck, to make an L-shaped strongback. The 2x4x16 won't lift a 12' tall wall completely, but will get you close enough to plumb that you can push it up the rest of the way easily enough. But for 14' tall walls we've had to prop the wall up and move the jacks to other locations, like the underside of window sills. In the future, I'd like to try LSL studs as I believe they're available in longer lengths and may be stronger?
They are awesome
I would work with you!!
Interesting device
Awesome stuff...Any chance of getting a new mail room video in the near future?
I would love to work with you. I just think how much I would learn while we worked on projects.
BUY THE HINGE BASES that go along with these!!! They fasten the 2x4 to the floor and the hinge, then you put a lag into the 2x4 up top, AND you use the wire harness/plates to attach the top plate, now when the wind grabs your FULLY SHEATHED wall it doesn’t pull you off the second floor with it!
I’m building my first house ever and I’m doing it by myself, including standing 40’ walls alone. Setting up my Qual-Craft wall jacks as described above takes a DANGEROUS (not sketchy) part of the job and turns it into a slightly sketchy job. I still had a few “high pucker-factor” moments, but I got it done without thinking I might not make it home safely.
Wall jacks are an incredibly useful and enabling tool. DON’T be cheap - buy the accessories and use them properly. Stay safe everyone!!!
"Nobody likes to work with me" ha ha, have same problem. Remodeling a 50s vintage grange hall into a home. I've pretty much done all the framing myself, and I'm 64, and I used wall jacks to lift a 16' x 5 1/2 x 28 or something glulam into place, all by myself. They're great.
Your "wall jacks" look vaguely familiar to pump jacks from back in the day when you nailed two 2x4's together to make the legs. Before they came out with the aluminum legs and planks used today.
I’ll start carrying this in my Jeep!
I just bough two!
Can they be used indoors? Or does the ceiling get in the way?
You have to know maths for this one. But the lifting boards is the hypotenus of a triangle that is the floor, the wall and the lifting board. The hypotenus is always the longest line in a triangle, by maybe 50 percent. So if you're trying to stand a wall indoors and the top meets the ceiling then yea, the lifting board is to long.
"Sometimes, sketchy is the way to go" 😅
I think I'd prefer to spend the $2400 on two wall lift jacks that work with built in winches and two can be controlled at the same time with one remote control so you can stand back out of harm's way. They also have hooks at the top of them to catch the wall when it's all the way up. $2400 wouldn't go far in hospital bills if a wall fell on you
People don't like to work with me! LOL That's my life!
Ha!
I used to frame and sheath then lift 12’ walls by myself. Now I can’t lift a sheet of sheathing. Good vid.
Good morning from San Antonio!
SA? Me too!!
Good afternoon from Finland!
Me too!
Goodnight, and keep up the good work.
-
the Philippines.
Damn my dad has 4 years on yurs
Sometimes sketchey is the way to go 😂
A couple hundred lumens from a LED photo light mounted near or on the camera would be very helpful to fill in those dark spots.
i rip yellow pine down to 2x4 there strong
a single small person could raise a wall by nailing down the base plate then leave the top plate off and stand the wall in 16' sections, afterward😎 put on the top plate and do all needed joining.
Many single fathers need to watch this video
where are your knee pads/kneeling pad? you know this!
outlawed by OSHA am I wrong?
@@Bobo-ox7fj we cant use them legally anymore
" Sometimes Sketchy is the way to go " -EC .....I need that printed on a hard hat sticker.
😹😸😹
"When I work alone, I prefer to work by myself"
OR just build a smaller sections of the wall and you won't need a crew to help you raise it up !
You can use them to lift garage door headers by yourself too, or any kind of structural beams.
it's not 2x4 when it's not 2x4
Just stick frame it
Work smart not hard u want to frame by yourself get the “wall lift” it was invented by a carpenter that solved this problem with a winch. The system he is using is archaic
Theres other ways then this
Yawn
My whole life is sketchy, lol.