BASEMENT FINISHING COURSE VIDEO: Building & Securing Partition Walls

This video is made to help you understand how partition walls go up

It's going to be a fairly long video because there are a lot of details to talk about here

But before I get into that, I just want to point out that there are really two kinds of partition walls shown here

You're probably going to choose one or the other. This is a wood frame partition wall, and this is a metal framed partition wall

It doesn't really matter if you use wood for partitions in the basement

because this wood is completely isolated from any source of moisture. So if you prefer to work with wood, if you've done it before, then there's no problem there

Metal is sort of a different process, working with metal studs and tracks

but there's nothing complicated about that either. So the first thing you're going to want to do is to measure the length of partition while you want

So this is the total length, in this case extending from a perimeter

wall right to a post. Now I've located a post here in this illustration to show you how

hiding a post within a partition wall is a great thing. The bottom plate, there's actually

two or this is the bottom plate here and this is what I call the base plate, more on

those in a minute, but they both stop here where the support post is

is. And then the next wall, the rest of the wall is going to continue on later. So you don't need to

sort of do anything fancy to wrap those plates around the post. The plates can stop and start again

and whatever wallboard you put over will span that. And magically, that support post is going to

disappear. So that's one way to deal with it. Now, in the instructions in the course

the whole partition wall thing is broken down into steps. And so I'm going to go through those same steps here

So what I mention is step one and step two in the video corresponds to the write-up that you can read about in the course

So step one is to just measure the length of well you need and you don't have to be very tight about it either

I mean, for instance, there's a distance from the wall here to the post

It really doesn't matter if that's a particularly tight fit or not

I would cut the top and the bottom plate about a quarter of an inch less

It just needs to fit in there. There's no points for extreme accuracy or precision or anything like that

You just need to get some, the base plate, bottom plate, and top plate cut to the right length

So it's going to fit in there. Now, earlier in the course, I mentioned how I

recommend using plastic lumber as a bottom plate for partitions. This gets the wood up

off the ground. It acts as a moisture barrier so this wooden bottom plate here stays

perfectly dry. If you want to go to some extra trouble and I think it's probably

worthwhile every so often you can cut grooves in this plastic bottom plate. I've only

shown one here but you'd probably want one every couple of feet at the most and that's to allow

drainage of water if there's any leaked water because don't forget one of the advantages of the

subfloor tiles is that they're raised up a little bit off the ground and and the system can tolerate

a small amount of leakage but of course if this floor is sloped towards a floor drain somewhere

but you don't have these grooves here then it's going to act as a dam

and it's going to stop the natural draining of water. That's not to say that the water won't go away at its own

because if the concrete floor is not painted, concrete's porous enough that eventually the water will kind of seep through

So it's not the end of the world if you don't cut these things, but it is recommended. It is a good idea

Step two in the process is more of an exploratory thing, and it involves measuring how high

the wall needs to be. So that would be to extend between the floor and the underside of the

joists up above. Now you're going to discover a couple of things. Most commonly, the figure of the

wall height from say this end to this end can vary quite a bit. You know, it can easily vary

half an inch or so depending on how the concrete floor was finished. So that's really what you're

trying to determine now how much does this floor vary and you can mark the total dimensions

here along the floor where you take them and that's just mostly so that you know what you're

up against when you move on with some of the other steps because the key thing the main thing is

that you make the overall wall assembly the right height to fit in there and the right height is

not necessarily completely tight to the underside of the joists and the wall height

should not vary along its length either there's no point in trying to make parts of

the wall taller and shorter and it's just it's a big pain it won't work and it

doesn't really pay off so take your time now to to measure the wall height

and then just record your findings here on the floor wherever you take the

measurements as a reference for steps coming up. Step 3 involves cutting all three plates to length They all the same length and you need to cut them now because it important that you have them on the floor and sitting where they going to be in order to measure the length for the wall studs properly

Step four involves, as I said, cutting the studs to length, but you want to do that first by stacking all three plates, so the top plate, the bottom plate, and the base plate on the ground

where the wall is going to be. And then you want to measure up

from the top of that stack of plates to the underside of the floor joists

Now, what you discover here should correspond with what you discovered earlier

when you measured for total wall height. And by that, I mean

whatever area of distance is taller or shorter you should be seeing the same thing

just to make sure that you're as a double check to make sure that you're measuring correctly

But because the wall studs fit between the top and the bottom plate

you can sidestep a lot of error-prone math by not using any math at all

You just stack the plates and you measure the height that the studs need to be

in order to fill that space. Using a method that I showed you in a previous video

where you're not actually measuring with the numbers on a tape measure, you're just extending the blade

and then locking that tape measure in position, locking the blade when the tape measure is extended enough

to fill the space that you're trying to measure. Now, in this case, too, you want to make sure

that the wall studs end up being maybe three-eighths to a half an inch shorter than necessary to completely fill the space

This does two things. The main thing is that it gives you a little bit of leeway so you can tilt the wall up

Because a wall that fits snugly between the bottom of the floor joists and the floor

you will never be able to tip that up because when it's angled and in the tipping up position

it's a little bit taller than it's going to be because it's on an angle

So the leading edge of the top plate is going to hit the joists before the wall becomes plum straight up and down

and gets to be as functionally short as it eventually will. So step four, measure for those wall studs

and cut them to length. Now, you can do all this cutting with a hand saw

A good hand saw is not a terribly impractical option. But this work right now is exactly where you would use a chop saw

also called a mitre saw, just for straight cross-cutting. It's faster. You're going to get greater accuracy

And with all the cross-cutting you need to do when finishing a basement

getting a chop saw, even a very basic one is actually a great idea

And this is where you're going to start to use it. in earnest. Now it's time for step five, which is marking the top and bottom plate so you know where

wall studs go. Now you don't need to mark the base plate or the bottom plate because it's just sitting

against the ground or on the floor and it's going to be secured there. But you do need to know where

to position the studs. So you should temporarily clamp or use some deck screws or something like

like that to join the top and bottom plate face to face. So it's essentially two plates, one directly

on top of the other. And then you roll that over on its side and you mark where wall studs need to go

Now, of course, there needs to be a wall stud at the beginning of a wall, and there needs to be a

wall at the end of the wall where it meets another wall or, in this case, a support post, or maybe

a doorway opening. That's another place where you might stop a wall. And the wall studs

also need to be 16 inches apart. And when I say apart, I don't mean the distance between this

face here, for instance, and this face here. What I mean is the distance from the middle

of a stud to the other middle of a stud. In the carpenter's

trade that's called on center so it would be 16 inches on center and the idea

with the 16 is that it's a multiple of of 48 and that's one of the standard

widths of building materials but they all do go in increments that will land

on the middle of a wall stud so if you're putting down some wallboard or paneling

or drywall or anything, you want the edge of the sheet material to automatically land in the middle of the stud

so that you can have the end of one sheet material stopping here and then the other piece of

sheet material starting there. It's just a way of economizing and it helps things to go together more

quickly. So just to recap, you're going to want to mark both top and bottom plates at the same time

so that the numbers correspond. And then you separate these plates in preparation for actually

fastening the wall frame together Step six is next and that all about assembling the wall So this happens on the floor The bottom plate is resting on its edge so not on its flat like it shown here but on its edge And the same with the top plate

and then the wall studs fit in between. Now I should mention that this wall is just an ordinary wall here

Earlier in the course, you will probably remember that I introduced you to the idea of staggered studs

to help with soundproofing. So if the bottom and top plate were just

two by six, then the intermediate studs would be two by four and they would be staggered

One tight to one side of the plate, the next one, next stud over, tight to the other edge of

the plate, back and forth like that, so there's no continuous wood from one side of the wall

to the other. But just for this video, I've kept things simple. You lay everything lying down and then you drive some nails or screws to join them

So if you're dealing with a 2x4 wall, two screws or two nails will do

If it's a 2x6, you might as well use 3. You'll find that, especially if you're a beginner

it's easier to stay accurate if you join these pieces of wood with deck screws instead of nails

So 3.5 inch deck screws work quite well. And the reason is because you're not blamming away with a hammer

which tends to throw the alignment of parts out of whack. So you can hold with one hand, hold the parts together with one hand

align their edges, and then drive a deck screw in, and once that screws in place, everything's held tight

and you can proceed easily with another. Framing with a hammer is a little more tricky

because things do tend to jump around. You could also frame with a nailing gun too

which is faster than anything else, and every bit is accurate, except that you can't really take the nails out

Sometimes it's nice if you get things wrong, and if you're a beginner and just starting out

and a little tentative, sometimes it's nice to be able to back that screw out

and fix that stud that accidentally got put together, not quite as it should

So I'll leave that up to you. This is not a structural wall

Either nails or deck screws will work just fine, Now it's time for step seven in the written instructions in the course, and that's all about securing this bottom plate or the base plate

If you remember this is, I recommend either composite deck lumber or plastic

Composite is a 50-50 blend of wood and recycled plastic, and plastic is just 100% plastic, but either one's going to work fine for this

And so it's time to secure this. presumably you've marked where it goes

using some of the methods that I explained earlier for positioning this wall square to any neighboring walls

and when it comes to securing this you've got two tactics really

the first is to apply some construction adhesive and as I've mentioned before several times

PL premium is really the best stuff I've ever used It's a polyurethane construction adhesive

It dries really hard and very strong, and I've never seen any other construction adhesive compare

A construction adhesive is, it comes in a caulking tube, and it's fairly thick, and it looks like caulking

but it hardens and gets sticky. So when it comes time to actually securing this bottom plate

you put on some construction adhesive and nestle the bottom plate down

Now, you're going to need to fasten it down too because that bottom plate's going to squish and move and slide all over the place with the construction adhesive in place

So you can just fasten it with one fastener at each end and you could use a tapcon screw, which I've told you about before, and that's what you see here

These are screws that thread directly into holes in concrete without the need for

any kind of an anchor. You could also use a powder actuated tool, which is like a little gun

that shoots out hardened nails that can go right into concrete. Now, as I said, you will need to

secure the bottom plate at both ends so that it doesn't move around. Don't forget at this stage

the wall is assembled and it's lying flat on your floor. The next step after securing the bottom

plate will be to tilt that wall up and you can't have this bottom thing slid. all over the place. So you will need to secure it and get it in position. So step eight is when

you tilt the wall up. And this is when the accuracy of your calculations count. That wall should

just tip up without touching the joists up above or maybe touching them a little bit. You might have

to nudge the wall into position a bit. But there's two things you want to accomplish when you tilt that

wall up first that this the bottom wood plate is aligned perfectly with the

composite bottom plate the composite bottom plate kind of calls the shots and the

wall itself needs to be plum and to make something plumb you need a level the

plum is just straight up and down so the level will tell you when that wall is

straight up and down you're gonna want to measure it first here at one end and then

at the other and you'll get the wall close with with nothing fastening it

When everything looks pretty good, put some fasteners in to fasten this

bottom wood plate right through to the floor underneath. A one option is these

expanding metal anchors Imagine a bolt with a nut on it but no head on the bolt So you drill a hole through the wood the composite and into the floor of the right size to match the anchor

And then you tap the anchor in place with the nut all the way up at the top

And then you tighten the nut. And in the action of tightening the nut, the anchor swells up inside the concrete floor

And that's how it grips. You could also, if you could find some tapcon screws long enough

you could use tapcon screws that go all the way through. You could use some powder-actuated fasteners that go all the way through

You're going to need to do something like that. One of these three options, the powder-actuated option

the expanding metal anchor and the tap-con screws, are what you've got at your disposal

And just to make sure everything works fine, that construction adhesive is going to be

going to be giving a pretty good bond to the floor underneath. So that wall isn't going to go

anywhere. Now with the bottom secured, you can get serious about plumbing the wall. So I would start at

one end, put your level on it, and prepare yourself to anchor the top of the wall to the

bottom edge of the floor joists. Now, as I've mentioned before, there's a little bit of a gap there

between the top of the wall and the joists, intentionally so. And you'll want to fill those with wedges, wood and wedges

You can buy them at building supply outlets. You can buy a couple of packages of cedar shingles

They're tapered and they're wood, and you can slice the cedar shingles to width

But wherever there's a floor joist, and you're going to want to drive some screws through the top plate of the wall

into the bottom edge of the joist. But first, you want to fill the space with these wedges

And by pushing the wedge is more or less in or out

working as a pair like this, you can get a custom fit so that all that space is taken up nicely

and then you drive the screws and it's all perfectly tight and works super well

I always like to put a little bit of wood glue on these wedges

on all surfaces. So this surface here, the middle surface where the two touch

and then further down, just kind of slather that on and install the wedges and drive the screws

And when everything's dry and the glue's hard, you can use a hand saw or a chisel

to knock off the excess here. But you're going to get a very strong

solid installation that way. And as you work along the wall, use your level on each stud

just because the wall is plum at one end and at the other doesn't mean that it's plum all the way through

So pay attention to that level and you'll have a nice wall as good as anyone could have built it

Now if you've opted to use metal studs, the process is a little bit different

Notice up top here there aren't any wedges and there are over here with the wood wall

And that's because a metal stud frame wall is put up piece by piece

So the bottom track is fastened to the concrete floor. You're going to want to use a construction adhesive

Tapcon screws are definitely best for this. They're superior to the other two options

And you lay that down, secure it, and then you fasten the top track in place

You'd use a stud at one end and a stud at the other

along with your level, to determine that the top track is exactly above

the bottom track and when it's secure then you put in the wall studs one at a time

so you're cutting them to fit that particular spot you're tilting them in place

you're putting it in the track you're tilting it up and then you secure both ends of

each stud with two screws one on each side the screws can go right into this metal

the metal's not very thick and it's designed to have screws go into it easily when

driven with a drill. So it's a pretty simple operation and you just put on one stud and then the other and work your way along

with the proper stud spacing as I explained before. Now there's one other thing that I want to mention and it has to do with this blocking up here

When you're installing walls like this you're going to need to put in some blocking so that there's always a solid place

to anchor the ceiling pieces, drywall probably, or it could be some other kind of paneling

But the edges need to be fully supported, and that's where this blocking comes in

It can be two by four or two by six. You might not be in a situation exactly like this

Maybe your wall is parallel to a joist, and maybe it just sits

The wall sits between a joist, and it runs in the same direction as a joist

which means that you'll have to put on some blocking like you see here

to fasten the top of the wall to. In this particular situation we're fastening to the bottom of the joists

but if the wall fits between the joists and is parallel to the joists

you need to put in some blocking like this ahead of time. And in a case like that, on the top of the wall

you'd also want to put some blocking so it extends past the top

to create a nailing surface for your sealing sheet material. So always keep that in mind

Ask yourself, have I created a solid backing to support drywall and things in corners

Because in addition to creating the partition walls, now is the time to think like that and to install the blocking that you need