Should you always have a recessed stud under the top plate?

[Martin Lj]

I have seen different descriptions, what I'm wondering about is whether you should always have a recessed ledger/stringer directly under the top plate in your wall construction?

Some thoughts I have:

1. Is it mainly needed when the truss doesn't land directly above one of the studs?
2. Is it mainly needed when you have an opening in the wall for, for example, a patio door/larger window section, which means you can't place studs at 24 inches on center across the entire wall?
3. I've seen on YouTube that it's instead advocated to place double horizontal ledgers as a top plate to solve the problem of the truss not landing directly over a vertical stud. Is that something that's done here? I think it becomes an unnecessarily large thermal bridge.

Feel free to share your best tips on how to notch the vertical stud with the space where the horizontal ledger should be

 

[Gabbe1]

I have built several timber frame houses without a recessed stud on edge in the wall plate, but then the supporting structure has been such that the trusses have stood precisely over an upright stud. If one wants to insert a door or window in such a structure that is so wide that one of the supporting upright studs needs to be cut, then a lintel is required.

 

[Mikael_L]

1. Is it primarily necessary when the rafter doesn't land directly on an upright stud?

Yes

2. Is it primarily necessary when there is an opening in the wall for, for example, a patio door/larger window section that prevents placing upright studs at cc60 across the entire wall?

Yes

3. I have seen on YouTube that it's instead advocated to place double horizontal studs as wall plates just to solve the problem of the rafter not landing directly on an upright stud. Is this something people do here? I think it would create an unnecessarily large thermal bridge.

You're onto something here, more thermal bridge but not the smartest strength increase.
If an extra bearer is placed alongside, the strength doubles.
If a rule twice as high is chosen as a bearer, the strength quadruples, meaning more strength for the same amount of material. So the same strength is achieved with a rule that's 1.41 times higher, i.e., replace a 170x45 with a 220x45 and it's almost the same strength.

It's possible to build entirely without a bearer, but this essentially requires the rafters to land precisely above the studs in the wall.
Some prefer to place a bearer everywhere anyway, it becomes at least a bit more stable somewhere I suppose. Maybe it also provides a bit more to attach to.

In the house, I used wall plate + bearer everywhere, even though I could have skipped the bearer everywhere except over a window.
In the garage, however, I only used a bearer, skipped the wall plate, a bit unorthodox, but a carpenter recommended it.
Here is a link: https://www.byggahus.se/forum/threads/snik-garaget.100212/page-5#post-706667
One thing to consider then, the support strength, all the pressure from the rafter ends up on an area of 45x45mm. It wouldn't have worked in the house where I have a specified pressure of 3.7 tons from the rafters in some places.

 

[witten]

There is no general answer to the question as it depends on the size of the load that comes on the hammarbandet. It needs to be calculated to know for sure.

 

[Stefan1972]

Otherwise, the wall panels become significantly stiffer with a vertical stud as well.