Exterior wall framing question?

Frame your walls so the top plate will break over a stud. In other words half of the stud will still be showing after you install the top plate. Continue your next length of top plate by resting it on the remaining 3/4" of the stud that is showing. The double plate should lap over the 1st top plate joint so that the first joint is in the middle of the next double top plate. When you get to the corner, make your top plate overlap so it ties the wall into the adjoining plate, then the double plate overlaps that first lap from the other direction. Any partition wall that intersect the exterior walls should have the double plate extend onto the exterior wall to lock it into that exterior wall. When you are done framing the exterior walls put a level on all the corners and get a plumb reading (vertical means plumb, horizontal means level).You may need to cut your top plates back to insure all your corners are plumb *true vertical.

what building codes require for any load bearing wall where I live is a double top plate

one plate should extend into any adjacent wall, nailed to tie them together

the joints must be more than 2 feet apart or else metal strapping must be installed

the joint on the bottom top plate generally are cut to the center of a stud just for ease of constructing the wall while being built laying flat before standing it up

30 years of doing both new construction and remodeling I have never seen any home built without a double top plate

if you are building 8 foot walls you buy the 92 and 5/8 precut studs along with your bottom and 2 top plates that gives you just over 97 inches so after the ceiling is drywalled the walls can be done without having to cut each sheet of drywall

to gain he proper strength for the top plate you must use 16 footers and sandwich them to hold the weight of the roof == especially if you are planning the ''' hip roof design ''' == since you are asking -- it would be wise to put some plywood in place to make a sturdy walk-way across the ceilings and under the roof === and it makes good storage for the Christmas storage -- a fold down stair-case is always nice === there are several things that can be done while building that might total one thousand dollars and those added items will make you more clients and happy home dwellers ... it will put you ahead of many home builders .....

Generally inspectors will require a mend plate, unless engineered drawings show a detail specifying otherwise. A double plate is pointless because the drawings will normally specify trusses directly on top of the vertical studs, and so since it is pointless there is no "standard" method for a splice.

I either do a lap joint or sister on a short piece of 2 x 4. It's probably not standard procedure but that's just what I do and it's plenty strong.

Your top plate IS double. You're not supposed to have top plate boards ends within 24 inches of each other (overlap is 24 inches or MORE).

I use 2x4x8 and 2x4x12 for top plates.