Orientation · General Building (B) · Framing and Structural Components

Framing and Structural Components: The Load Path, by the Book

About 9 minutes · 6 sections

What this guide covers

This is the section closest to what most B contractors do all day — and that is exactly the trap. The exam tests the code's version of framing, not your crew's habits, and a fifth of the test rides on it. The organizing idea is the LOAD PATH: every load travels from the roof through the walls and floors down to the foundation and into the soil. Nearly every structural question is a load-path question in disguise — what carries this, what ties it down, what happens if a link is cut. Skim the clusters you frame every week and spend your time where your experience is thin — seismic hardware, stucco layers, deck attachment — because the vocabulary and confusions below are organized the way the guide splits the section. And remember the room is closed-book: the span table you would normally open has to be understood, not looked up.

Key terms

Joist
A repeated horizontal member framing a floor or ceiling.
Rafter
A sloped roof-framing member running from the ridge down to the wall.

The rules the exam tests

  1. Framing and Structural Components is about 20 percent of the General Building (B) exam.

    Framing and Structural Components is approximately 20 percent of the General Building (B) examination; the guide's percentages are approximate by its own footnote. The five areas are and wall framing, roof framing, seismic hardware requirements and installation, siding and stucco, and decks and stairs.

    On the job

    The five clusters are the guide's own split of the section — organize your study by them, and give extra time to the ones many framers know least: seismic hardware, stucco layers, deck attachment.

    Exact wording

    The Framing and Structural Components section is approximately 20 percent of the General Building (B) examination — the guide's percentages are approximate by its own footnote — and covers subfloor and wall framing, roof framing, seismic hardware requirements and installation, siding and stucco, and decks and stairs.

    CSLB General Building (B) Examination Study Guide — s02-framing-structural-components

  2. You take the examination closed-book.

    Closed-book means you may use no reference materials during the examination. Anything you would normally look up on the job — the code book, tables, your own notes — you have to carry in your head instead.

    On the job

    On the job the code book is always within reach; in the exam room it is not. What you would normally look up, you have to carry in.

    Exact wording

    The examination is closed-book: no reference materials may be used during the examination.

    CSLB General Building (B) Examination Study Guide — test-policy

  3. Every question has four choices with only one best answer. More than one can look right.

    The wrong choices are written to be partly right, so compare all four before choosing. Some questions require mathematical computation, and a calculator is provided, so you work that math out during the examination rather than from memory.

    On the job

    BEST answer means more than one choice can be partly right — and the computation questions (areas, volumes, material quantities) are worked with the provided calculator, not from memory.

    Exact wording

    The examination is multiple-choice with four choices per question, written to provide only one BEST answer; some questions require mathematical computation, and a calculator is provided.

    CSLB General Building (B) Examination Study Guide — test-strategy

  4. In the Residential Code, floors are Chapter 5, walls 6 and 7, roofs 8 and 9.

    In the California Residential Code, floors sit in Chapter 5, wall construction in Chapter 6, wall covering in Chapter 7, roof-ceiling construction in Chapter 8, and roof assemblies in Chapter 9. Check which chapter governs the assembly first.

    On the job

    Knowing which chapter owns which assembly is the study-navigation skeleton for this whole section — each cluster below points back into one of these chapters.

    Exact wording

    In the California Residential Code, the assemblies this section tests are organized by chapter: floors in Chapter 5, wall construction in Chapter 6, wall covering in Chapter 7, roof-ceiling construction in Chapter 8, and roof assemblies in Chapter 9.

    Title 24 codes (2025 editions) — crc

  5. The Residential Code sizes floor joists with Chapter 5's span tables. Rafters use Chapter 8's.

    The tables are split by assembly: you look up floor joists in Chapter 5's allowable-span tables and rafters in Chapter 8's. So a floor question and a roof question send you to two different chapters of the code.

    On the job

    The exam room is closed-book, so a span question is really asking whether you understand what the tables trade off — deeper members, closer spacing, or stronger lumber buy longer spans.

    Exact wording

    The California Residential Code sizes floor joists and rafters through span tables — floor joists in Chapter 5's allowable-span tables, rafters in Chapter 8's.

    Title 24 codes (2025 editions) — crc

  6. Keep stairways at least 36 inches wide above height. Handrails may project into that width.

    Clear width is measured above the permitted handrail height and below the required headroom, so that is where you need at least 36 inches — on stairways within or serving a building, porch, or deck. Installed handrails may reduce the clear width at and below handrail height. Stairs to a nonhabitable attic or a crawl space are narrow exceptions, and spiral stairways have their own narrower width rule.

    On the job

    A specific code minimum of the kind CSLB's sample questions model — recalled closed-book, in inches.

    Exact wording

    Under the California Residential Code, stairways within or serving a building, porch, or deck — with narrow exceptions, such as stairs to a nonhabitable attic or a crawl space — must be not less than 36 inches in clear width at points above the permitted handrail height and below the required headroom; spiral stairways have their own narrower width rule, and at and below handrail height, installed handrails are allowed to narrow the clear width.

    Residential Code § r318.7

  7. The Residential Code puts braced wall panel and requirements in Chapter 6's wall-bracing provisions.

    A braced wall panel is a length of wall built and fastened to resist lateral force, and a hold-down anchors the panel's end post against uplift. The wall-bracing provisions in Chapter 6 carry the requirements for both.

    On the job

    Seismic hardware is a named cluster of this section, and the bracing provisions are its home in the code — the place to study what ties walls down and why.

    Exact wording

    The California Residential Code's wall-bracing provisions, in Chapter 6, are where braced wall panels and their hold-down hardware requirements live.

    Residential Code § r602.10

  8. The California Residential Code governs deck attachment in its Chapter 5 deck provisions.

    Chapter 5 of the California Residential Code holds the deck provisions, and the ledger attachment rules sit there with them. Attaching a ledger to the house is a code-governed connection, not a fastener choice you make by habit on site.

    On the job

    Deck failures concentrate at the ledger, which is why its attachment is code-governed rather than left to fastener habit.

    Exact wording

    The California Residential Code governs the attachment of a deck ledger to the house in its deck provisions in Chapter 5.

    Residential Code § r507.9

  9. Do not cut, notch, or drill a member without a registered design professional's approval.

    A registered design professional is a licensed engineer or architect — not the framer, not the builder. You must not splice a truss member or alter it in any other way either, unless that professional approves the change first.

    On the job

    A truss stays an engineered unit, and the person who can approve changing one is a registered design professional — not the framer, and not the builder.

    Exact wording

    Under the California Residential Code, truss members must not be cut, notched, drilled, spliced, or otherwise altered in any way without the approval of a registered design professional.

    Residential Code § r802.10.4

  10. Without continuous or , support the ridge on a wall or ridge beam.

    A ridge beam carries roof load; a ridge board only aligns the rafters. So where ceiling joists or rafter ties do not run continuously across the structure, support the ridge on a wall or on a ridge beam designed in accordance with accepted engineering practice.

    On the job

    This is the mechanism behind ridge board versus ridge beam: rafter pairs push outward, and something must resist that thrust — ties down low, or a beam carrying the ridge.

    Exact wording

    Under the California Residential Code, where ceiling joists or rafter ties do not provide continuous ties across the structure, the ridge must be supported by a wall or a ridge beam designed in accordance with accepted engineering practice.

    Residential Code § r802.3

  11. Install and a behind the cladding on every exterior wall.

    Under the California Residential Code, the water-resistive barrier, the flashing, and a means of draining to the exterior any water that penetrates the cladding together make up the weather-resistant exterior wall envelope, which must prevent water from accumulating within the wall assembly. The flashing follows Section R703.4; the barrier goes behind the cladding as Section R703.2 requires. Three exceptions: log walls built to ICC 400; concrete or masonry walls designed under Chapter 6 and flashed per Section R703.4 or R703.8, which need no weather-resistant envelope; and an envelope shown by ASTM E331 testing to resist wind-driven rain, which is excused from the drainage, barrier, and flashing requirements.

    On the job

    Siding and stucco questions often test the hidden layers: the cladding is the face, but the envelope's water resistance comes from the barrier and the flashing behind it.

    Exact wording

    Under the California Residential Code, exterior walls must provide a weather-resistant exterior wall envelope that includes flashing as Section R703.4 describes, and the envelope must prevent water from accumulating within the wall assembly by providing a water-resistive barrier behind the exterior cladding as Section R703.2 requires and a means of draining to the exterior any water that penetrates the cladding. The section's own exceptions: log walls built to ICC 400; concrete or masonry walls designed under Chapter 6 and flashed per Section R703.4 or R703.8, which need no weather-resistant envelope; and an envelope shown by ASTM E331 testing to resist wind-driven rain, which is excused from the drainage, barrier, and flashing requirements.

    Residential Code § r703.1

  12. Positively anchor a wall-supported deck to the house for vertical and lateral loads.

    This applies when a deck is supported by attachment to an exterior wall. You must positively anchor that deck to the primary structure, and design the attachment for both vertical and lateral loads. Never make it with toenails or with nails subject to withdrawal.

    On the job

    The classic deck failure is the connection to the house letting go — and fastening it by nail habit is exactly what the code forbids.

    Exact wording

    Under the California Residential Code, a deck supported by attachment to an exterior wall must be positively anchored to the primary structure and designed for both vertical and lateral loads — and that attachment must not be accomplished with toenails or nails subject to withdrawal.

    Residential Code § r507.8

Take away

Where people go wrong

Where to look it up

Subfloor and floor framing — joists, subfloor, rim; decks live here too
2025 California Residential Code Chapter 5 — readable free in ICC's online viewer at codes.iccsafe.org
Wall framing and wall bracing — studs, headers, braced wall panels, hold-downs
2025 California Residential Code Chapter 6
Siding and stucco — wall coverings, water-resistive barriers, flashing
2025 California Residential Code Chapter 7
Roof framing and roof assemblies — rafters, ridges, trusses, coverings
2025 California Residential Code Chapters 8 and 9
Stairways, handrails, and guards
2025 California Residential Code Chapter 3. NOTE: the 2025 edition renumbered much of this material, so an older prep book's or handout's section numbers will not match the current code.
Framing on buildings beyond the Residential Code’s scope
2025 California Building Code, Chapter 23 (Wood) — readable free in ICC’s online viewer; the Building Code also carries its own finish and plaster chapters
The exact definition of a code term
Chapter 2 of the Building and Residential Codes
Framing practice — layout, cutting, sequencing, take-off arithmetic
Modern Carpentry and the other trade references the guide's resource list names
The official statement of what this section covers
CSLB's Study Guide for the General Building (B) Examination, section 2 — cslb.ca.gov

Glossary

Every term this guide defines, in one place. Each is also defined where it first appears.

Anchor bolt
The bolt cast into the foundation that clamps the sill plate down, tying the frame to the concrete.
Bearing wall
A wall that carries load from above — roof, floors — not just its own weight. Opening one up is a structural act.
Ceiling joist
The horizontal member across the tops of the walls that frames a ceiling — and, tied at the rafter heels, resists the rafters' outward push.
Cripple wall
A short framed wall between the foundation and the first floor — a famously earthquake-vulnerable link when unbraced.
Flashing
Material installed at joints, openings, and penetrations to direct water back out — sheet metal, membranes, or liquid-applied systems.
Guard
The barrier that keeps a person from falling off an open edge — a landing, a deck, a stairway's open side.
Handrail
The rail a hand grasps going up or down a stair.
Header
The beam over a wall opening — a door or window — that carries load around the hole.
Hold-down
Hardware anchoring the end post of a braced or shear wall downward, so the wall cannot lift when it resists lateral force.
Hurricane tie
A light-gauge steel connector tying a rafter or truss to the wall below against uplift.
Joist hanger
A formed steel bracket that carries the end of a joist where it cannot rest on top of its support.
Ledger
The board fastened to the house that carries the inner edge of an attached deck.
Load path
The route loads travel: roof to walls to floors to foundation to soil. Tracing it is how to reason about most structural questions.
Nominal lumber size
The name of a piece — a "two-by-four" — is larger than its actual milled dimensions. Computation questions can turn on which one the problem means.
On-center (o.c.)
Spacing measured from the center of one member to the center of the next — how stud, joist, and rafter spacing is stated.
Partition
A wall that carries only its own weight — no roof or floor load lands on it.
Rafter tie
A horizontal member tying opposing rafters together near the wall line so their outward thrust cannot spread the walls.
Rim joist
The member closing off the ends of the floor joists at the edge of the floor frame.
Riser
The vertical face between two stair treads.
Shear wall
A wall built and fastened to resist forces acting along its length — wind and earthquake — rather than loads pressing down on it.
Sheathing
The panels fastened over framing that stiffen the frame and give siding or roofing a base.
Sill plate
The bottom member of the framing that sits on the foundation — where the frame hands the load path to the concrete.
Span
The horizontal distance a joist, rafter, or beam crosses between its supports.
Stud
The repeated vertical member of a framed wall, running between the wall's bottom and top plates.
Subfloor
The structural deck fastened over the joists that the finish floor is built on.
Tread
The horizontal surface of a step — the part a foot lands on.
Truss
A factory-engineered framework of chords and webs that frames a roof or floor as a single unit.
Water-resistive barrier (WRB)
The layer behind siding or stucco that keeps water that gets past the cladding off the sheathing.
Weep screed
The flashing at the base of a stucco wall that gives water trapped behind the stucco a way out.

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