Dad and I are getting ready to build this 1.5 story cottage and we're a bit unsure how to best support the upper floor joists.

Basically we're intending build a simple gable-ended 1.5 story cottage as per the section below:



Notice the upper floor joists are not on top of the wall studs, but are recessed (It's 400mm from the top of the floor joists to the rafters).

How does one usually construct the stud wall in order to support the upper floor joists?

We were thinking one option is to make one 2.4m high wall, sit the upper floor joists on top of this, and then build a second 400mm high wall on top, like this:


Another option is to run 3m studs all the way through to the rafters, then construct a kind of second wall or something inside the first, to sit the upper floor joists on.

Any suggestions?


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