Metal framed wall structure

Claim 1

A metal wall-framing structure for a building, the wall-framing structure comprising: a horizontally disposed top plate, a horizontally disposed bottom plate and a plurality of vertically extending wall studs interconnecting the top and bottom plates; the top and bottom plates being substantially identical and each being in the form of a generally U-shaped channel having side walls, a base wall which interconnects the side walls and a plurality of paired inwardly directed tabs arrayed along each of the side walls, the tabs along each of the side walls being separate from one another, being disposed parallel to the base wall and each having a width significantly smaller than the space between adjacent tabs; the studs each having a generally C-shaped section formed by first and second parallel legs, a wall connecting the two legs and first and second inwardly directed flanges extending from the first and second legs respectively and disposed parallel to the connecting wall, each stud having a width between the first and second parallel legs which is approximately equal to the spacing between the side walls of the plates whereby the terminal ends of the studs may be nested within the channels defined by the plates, each stud having a thickness between the flanges and the connecting wall which is approximately equal to the centre spacing between adjacent tabs on each side wall of the plates, and each stud being formed with notches in each corner thereof adjacent the terminal ends of the stud, the notches being separate from one another in the form of apertures which extend only around respective corners of the stud and positioned such that, when the ends of each stud are located within the plates, the notches are engaged and the stud is constrained against moving by four adjacent ones of the tabs.