Metal Stud Framing in Miami

Light-gauge steel does not feed termites, does not rot and does not warp with humidity — three things that matter more in South Florida than almost anywhere else in the country. It is dimensionally stable in a climate that is hard on wood, it is non-combustible, and it is what fire-rated and shaft-wall assemblies are tested and listed with.

It also arrives straight. A steel stud is the same width at the top as the bottom, every time, which is why the finished wall is flatter and why the trades after you have fewer surprises.

We lay out from the architectural drawings rather than from the existing walls, because the existing walls are frequently not where the drawings think they are. Openings get confirmed against the actual door and window schedule. Blocking goes in for casework, wall-hung fixtures, grab bars, televisions and anything else that will need something solid behind the board later.

Then it gets checked before it disappears. A partition that is three quarters of an inch out is invisible until it is a cabinet run that does not fit two months and several trades later, and at that point it is the most expensive kind of small mistake.

Fire-rated partitions, shaft walls and sound assemblies are not framing with different stickers on it — they are tested systems, and they only perform as listed if they are built as listed. Stud gauge and spacing, track fastening, board layers and orientation, joint treatment and firestopping at penetrations are all part of the assembly, not details to be improvised on site.

Sound assemblies are the same story. Resilient channel installed hard against a stud is not resilient channel; it is an expensive way to build a normal wall.