Alphonse: "As for lack of sheathing on the interior of the double wall... "That leaves a lot of room for flex or twist hidden inside the wall." True, but the twisting moment has been reduced (IMO) by a large percentage. You've halved the compression loading. " Perhaps the compression loading is halved - but I think that for code purposes, since the code does not talk about double walls, then the exterior wall would be considered load-bearing and the inner wall would simply be a partition wall. If I had to get a permit or inspection, it would be my bet that the inspector would require engineering certification to vary from the 2x6 requirement holding 2 floors above. But, as I said, I don't have an inspector or permit so, silly me, I came here to ask if anyone had any direct knowledge or experience and had offers to redesign my house, resize it, and refactor my life. lzerac: " You are correct on saying you need 2x6 at the basement, but you can still use a 2x6 staggered design and 2x4 infill on 2x8 plates" Now, finally, there is an on-topic post. That is an interesting proposition. Have you built that way? Lzerac: "be given advice from PROFESSIONALS on this forum, and then turn around and insult them for lack of DIRECTLY answering open ended questions, to which most could not even be close to being answered without the PREFESSIONALS required additional information to make a response!! (//end run on sentence!). It is also interesting how a suggestion is made, but then the PROFESSIONALS are basically called and idiot for not knowing the hidden information he later discloses. How stupid can we be! " Which professionals would that be? The one that answered my original post by "don't they have codes in Oklahoma?" even though the topic of staggered walls are not at all discussed in the building codes? Or the professional who said that sheetrock is not sheathing? Or the professional that said "don't tell that to the millions".... yada-yada about building a wall to support two floors, a ceiling, and a roof with 2x4's even though that is expressly forbidden by code? Or the professionals who keep talking about building codes that they clearly have never read? So what exactly would I assume anyone in this thread is a professional at? Or the professional who continues to interpret "walkout basement with two floors above" as three floors while explictly accusing me of making that incorrect inference? You want ME to take a better attitude? When i asked a question and from a single post, people on the other end of a fiber cable can figure out that, according to their judgments, I am ignorant of construction, code, life, finances, or anything else? worthy: "Yes, indeed, what an idiot I am! The OP considers the basement, or some part of it, to be the first of three floors, so it has to be framed in 2x6s. " Well, you said it, not me. I don't mean about you being an idiot, though you are the only one who said that, too. I mean about three floors. Nowhere did I say I was building a three floor house. I said I was building a house with a walkout basement with two floors. What I said, and it is correct, and you are only showing your true ignorance by continuing to argue the point, 2x4 walls cannot support two floors and a roof. So where the walkout portion of the basement is build with wood framing, the wall must be 2x6. You can't change the story now to pretend you made assumptions about the construction. You explicitly stated before that it could be done with 2x4s. "Oh well, back to shovelling snow while the Sooner State Bill Gates gets on with his eccentric masterpiece. " What an arrogant statement. You make judgmental comments about my house because it will be 3300 feet? I'm sorry if you can't have one that size but your pompous attacks are out of line. You know what? I came in here new to this forum and asked a simple question. Rather than any facts or opinions on the topic, what I got was a bunch of pompous a$$'s questioning my character, my financial worthiness to build anything more than a mud shack, my intellect, and my lifestyle. Any claim to insufficient information in the original post is hogwash. The question was clear. How wide can the wall be? And it was clearly placed in the context of a staggered stud wall. Either you can answer it or not. But since almost none of you can, you chose to inject yourself into areas not at all related to the thread. You jump me, attack me, make insulting and snide remarks, and make personal judgments after reading a few words on the Internet - and then have the nerve to try to turn it around on me to protect your "standing" (whatever standing you may or may not have) on these forums. What a bunch of insecure insignificant a$$'s.

I only got to read about half the posts, but I did just want to add one thing about spending too much around the holidays... We have a 3.5 year old daughter and a 1.5 year old son. A few weeks before Christmas, my DD sat on Santa's lap and told him that she wanted "the pony on TV that you can sit on and feed carrots." We finally figured out what she meant--she must have seen a commercial for "Butterscotch the Pony"--this pretty big stuffed horse that's advertised all over the place. We're suckers for our firstborn little girl (and just proud that she actually sat on Santa's lap and talked to him...not so last year!), so we look up Butterscotch the Pony...$300!! For a stuffed horse! NO WAY!! You could get a real pony for $300! I went into school the next day and told a colleague in my department about this ridiculous cost of a big stuffed pony (and the fact that it SOLD OUT at most places!). She just stared at me. She said that that's nothing...she usually spends over $1500 on EACH CHILD at Christmas--and her boys are 5 and 3. What could they possibly need or want to add up to 3K?? Needless to say, Butterscotch did not make an appearance under our tree...but we did get a bunch of other toys and fun things for our kids...and you know what my DD loved the most? An Ariel pillow that her Uncle gave her and a $10 Cinderella dress that Grandma got her. No mention of the missing pony (we did get her a neat pony/horse & rider set, which made us feel better...$17...not $300!) Sometimes Christmas can be really overwhelming, we definitely do lose sight of the real reason for the holiday, and it's sometimes better with less!!! :) Sarah

Hi again Davidtay, Do you think if we install four scone lights (2 on the bottom wall, one on closet wall and one on wall opposite closet) where the walls are high enough and the cove lighting where sloped ceiling meets wall all around room we will have enough ambient light for the room??. All of the spots for the sconces are on the half of the room opposite the windows. I am not anxious to have lamps in that room. If you don't think the lighting will be sufficient with the 4 sconces in one half of the room and cove lighting, what can we add to augment? Also, which kind of Pegasus product would you suggest for the cove lighting? Finally, do you have any tricks when installing the crown molding to ensure you have enough room for the lights? My DH knows how to install crown, but he has never put lights behind them and he wondered how to do that. Sorry for so many questions, but I really want to get this room roughed in electrically so we can insulate. Carol

The ceiling is unfinished. Most of the basement is unfinished, but we do spend time in there--hobbies, laundry, small finished office, 1st floor powder room is actually half-way down the basement stairs, etc. We sort of have moisture problems, though they haven't really been problematic. No moisture coming through the foundation, that we can tell. We have some other moisture problems, like an annual plumbing backup (there are drains on the floor) which we've managed to prevent lately but isn't truly fixed. And once the city sewer backed up in there (that's exceptionally gross). So we do want to keep the floor clean, concrete, and bleachable for those special occasions when we feel the urge to sterilize the floor. It does get humid down there, not that you'd feel it. Very cool in summers, but on some days water will condense on the cold water pipes. It would make the most sense to just insulate the basement ceiling and just treat the basement as outside the heating/cooling "envelope", but the arrangement of stairs and doors (and halfbath) don't really permit that--I can't block off the stairs effectively. Lots of stuff to consider--thanks for the ideas. I like to think that my next house will be new and energy efficient and have a solar roof, but that's what I thought before I bought this one. New homes are so boring.