One stud two stud, red stud blue stud?

Why are our walls so thick? Double stud walls? What the heck are those?

Studs, the vertical lumber that makes up a wall generally bridges from inside the home to nearly the outside. This creates a path for heat or cold to travel, avoiding insulation meant to prevent this thermal migration. A double stud, or staggered stud wall avoids most of this by having studs not completely bridge the wall cavities. In this case it also creates a very thick (almost 10") wall, which gives room for a lot of insulation and nice deep window wells, which we find aesthetically pleasing.

Double stud wall and lower sill plate.

Double stud wall end view. I think there's a joke about a triple stud wall waiting to be told here, but I may not know Chris well enough to go there.

View of wall and upper sill plate. The top of wall framing is actually a box that is filled with chopped foam that were scrap pieces from factory insulation install.

This appears to be the first 10" double stud home Deltec has done, I'll let you know if it falls down when we put the trusses on tomorrow.