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Q.
I'm installing 2x4 stud walls in the basement. How should I go about framing
the walls?
A.
Let’s start with a
quick look around the basement. Most basement floors in older homes are poured
with a bit of a slope and a floor drain. You may or may not want to deal with
that if it is present, perhaps eliminating the drain and leveling the floor.
That is something I will deal with in another answer. Hopefully your basement
is dry year around and the foundation walls are sound, not overly cracked or
leaning in or out. If you have some seepage through the walls, you need to deal
with it and not just hide it behind the walls.
Next, you should consider whether or not the house is anchored adequately to
the foundation. Older houses were usually minimally attached to the concrete
foundation with a 2 x 4 plate poured into the wall or some nails on the bottom
that were poured into the concrete. If that is the case, you should anchor the
house to the foundation with hardware that is designed for the task, and you
need to do it before you start framing any walls.
You will want to look closely at any plumbing, wiring, or duct work that may
get in the way and plan accordingly. Some of it may need to be relocated or
modified to give you the look and feel you want from the finished space. If you
will want to make any changes to the space above in the near future, think
about how it will be affected by the walls you are putting in now.
Now let’s start to frame up some walls. The technique I use goes like this. Lay
out where the walls will be by snapping chalk lines on the floor for the inside
edge. Consider that you will probably want 90 degree angle corners even if the
foundation isn’t exactly that way. (Remember the good old 3 4 5 right triangle
you didn’t think was important in that High School geometry class?) Check the
foundation walls to see if they are plumb. If they lean in, you will want to
leave enough space so that the wall studs can be installed plumb without
touching the concrete walls.
Any lumber that will be in contact with the concrete floor or the foundation
walls needs to be pressure treated “mud sill” stock. This should be rated as
suitable for ground contact. Cut all of your bottom plates from this treated
lumber and attach to the floor with rawl pins. These are easy to use pins that
are driven into holes that are drilled through the bottom plate and into the
concrete floor with a roto-hammer.
Once all the bottom plates are installed, use a plumb bob to locate lines that
are directly above the interior edges of the bottom plates. Find a point near
the end of each wall that you can mark on the floor joists above, and then use
a chalk line to snap marks on the other joists. You can now cut top plates that
are the same length as the floor plates and nail them to the joists. You may
want to lay out the studs on the bottom plate and transfer that layout to the
top plate before putting it up. To complete the wall, just cut the studs to
length and toenail them top and bottom. If the floor and ceiling are both
level, you can build an entire wall on the floor with top and bottom plates,
and then lift it into place on the treated plate that is attached to the floor.
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