I want to put a half partition between my kitchen and sunken den. It will be approximately ten feet long and about three feet, four inches high. I want it to be very secure since people will have a tendency to lean against it. I was thinking of running allthread vertically through the partition into the floor. This way, I could use washers and nuts at the top and run a double plate over the top. Does anyone have a better idea or suggestions? Please help!
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I've seen it suggested here to go through the subfloor and tie into the floor joists for a stiff wall. Of course if the wall is parallel to floor joists you could run blocking and tie into those. Good luck with your project
Mike
Trust in God, but row away from the rocks.
Ditto here.............
Lottsa glue and screws as well.[email protected]
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Are the floor joists exposed below?
Through the floor and tied to joist is great. In a pinch I've used an old framing square as a right angle brace.
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
Your allthread method will be real helpful to hold your wall to the floor; it will do almost nothing to prevent movement of the top of it if someone leans on it, or you ram the sofa or baby grand piano into it.
You need to counter the torque placed on your wall by a force impacting the top of it from one side. Even if the ceiling is already drywalled below, a good method is to open up the ceiling and run the freestanding end of your wall through floor almost to the topside of the drywall below. Now cut some 2x blocking that will butt from the side of the "post" you have created at the free end of your wall to the next joist. Do this on both sides of the post. Glue these blocks in place with PL400 or similar. Now the adjacent joists are resisting the torque of any impact at the top of your wall.
You can do your drywall patch now; well worth the trouble if you want a stiff wall.
PS - I had a framer nail the $hit out of the bottom end of the free end post on a job of mine. Aked him what was gonna happen when the framing shrunk and the nails backed out after thousands of repeated small impacts on the wall end. He thought about it, and did an "Oooh, yeah". Now he does the blocking thing.
Bruce
Between the mountains and the desert ...
Edited 1/26/2006 8:21 pm by Bruce
I like to sheet the wall with osb or ply on both sides. If one end of the wall is unsuported (doesn't terminate into a full wall) adding a double plate to the bottom and bolting through the bottom plates into something beefy in your floor works well.
Don
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One thing I found that helped with the all-thread method is screwing the framing together instead of nailing it. Three inch torx head screws through the plate into the bottom of the stud. Then screw the plate to the subfloor and floor joists or blocking underneath. Good luck
The best way is to run posts down into the floor framing. Obviously securing these posts is of critical importance.
The threaded rod method is also good especially if you have solid framing below. We use this method for railing posts where there is usually solid framing around the stair opening. One advantage of this method is that it can be possible to tighten up the posts if there is shrinkage.
I use steel l-brackets I have my steel supplier fab up for me. Make 'em big enough to bolt down into something solid, tall enough to reallt add support to the end psst, and you can get something that a piano can't knock over. Even at the prices we pay for steel these days, what it can do in these situations(IE: not going into a ceiling below, not trying to cobble together blocking,) it's cheap. If theres no solid blocking available where the end post sits- have 'em punch anout a gazillion holes in the floor leg of the bracket, shootrock screw the blue fool out of it. gonna' be covered anyway, doesnt have to look good, just do its job. good luck, Jim
Steel brackets and heavy L-braces screwed to the framing help. Also, at the end of your wall you can glue and screw a pair of 2x6s on edge to make a post that is a "C" in cross section. You can go one step further and cut a sheet of 1/2 inch ply to fit inside your wall between the framing members and sandwich it between the 2x6s on edge.
Billy