Carpentry

Structure

• Framing Fundamentals

  Load paths, framing members and the vocabulary the rest of the trade is built on, including why a 2x4 is not two inches by four inches.

• Floor Systems

  Sills, girders, joists, rim board and subfloor: how a floor carries load down to the foundation and stays flat while doing it.

• Wall Framing

  Plates, studs, headers, corners and sheathing, laid out on center so every trade that follows finds what it expects.

• Roof Framing and Rafter Math

  Common, hip and valley rafters, the rise-over-run that drives every cut, and where fall protection stops being optional.

• Stair Layout and Construction

  Total rise, unit rise and run, and cutting a stringer that lands where the drawing says it lands.

• Engineered Lumber and Trusses

  I-joists, LVL, glulam and roof trusses: what you may cut, what you must never cut, and why the manufacturer's instructions govern.

Safety

• Fall Protection for Carpenters

  Six feet is the number: what OSHA Subpart M requires of a carpenter on an open edge, around a hole, or on a roof.

• Residential Fall Protection

  Why house framing has its own OSHA rule, what counts as residential construction, and when a written fall protection plan replaces a harness.

• Nail Gun Safety

  Contact trigger versus sequential trigger, the injury numbers behind that choice, and the six steps OSHA and NIOSH tell contractors to take.

• Saw Safety and Guarding

  The guarding OSHA requires on a portable circular saw, the disconnect a fixed woodworking tool must have, and how kickback actually starts.

Measurement

• Construction Math for Carpenters

  Fractions, feet and inches, area and volume, and the right triangle that underlies every layout task on site.

• Blueprint Reading

  Plans, elevations, sections and details, and how to find the dimension that actually governs when two drawings disagree.

• Site Layout and Squaring

  Building lines, batter boards and squaring by diagonals so the structure starts true instead of getting corrected later.

• Levels, Lasers and Transits

  Spirit levels, water levels, rotary and line lasers, builder's levels and transits, and which one to trust over what distance.

Codes

• Building Code Basics for Carpenters

  What a model code is, who adopts it, and why the answer to a framing question is always the edition your jurisdiction actually adopted.

• IRC or IBC: Which Code Applies

  The IRC covers one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses up to three stories; the IBC covers everything else, and knowing which you are on changes the whole job.

• Formwork Fundamentals

  What formwork has to resist, why the drawings must be on site, and the difference between building a form and building a mould.

• Wall and Column Forms

  Panels, walers, ties and bracing for vertical work, and the shoring inspection duties that run before, during and after the pour.

• Form Pressures and Failure Prevention

  Why fresh concrete behaves like a liquid, how blowouts happen, and the OSHA rules on shoring, reshoring and when forms may come off.

• Door and Window Installation

  Setting units plumb, level and square in openings that are none of those things, and flashing them so water leaves the wall.

• Trim and Casework

  Base, casing, crown and returns, coping instead of mitring, and running a finish nailer without putting a fastener through your hand.

• Cabinet Installation

  Finding the high point, laying out level lines, hitting studs, and scribing to walls and floors that are out of true.

• The Carpentry Apprenticeship

  How a registered carpentry apprenticeship is structured, what it pays you to learn, and what the completion certificate is and is not.

• Running Crews

  Moving from doing the work to owning the outcome: layout for others, sequencing, and the fall-protection training duty that lands on you.

• From Carpenter to General Contractor

  The step where a license finally enters your life, because the state licenses the business that sells the work, not the carpenter doing it.

• Getting Into a Carpentry Apprenticeship

  Who sponsors carpentry apprenticeships, what they ask for, and how to find a registered program instead of paying a school.

• Do Carpenters Need a License

  Most states issue no carpenter license at all. Here is what actually exists, what a contractor license covers, and why a certificate is not a license.

• The Framing and Carpentry Contractor License

  California's C-5 and Oregon's blanket CCB requirement, the two ends of how states license the business that sells carpentry.

• NCCER Credentials for Carpenters

  What the written assessment and Performance Verification actually test, which carpentry assessments exist, and what employers do with the result.

• Carpentry Pay and Job Outlook

  959,000 carpenters, about 74,100 openings a year, and what the BLS numbers do and do not tell you about your local market.