I’m finishing a basement and I need to frame around the hvac ducts
and I’m looking for some ideals. Can I lay a 2×4 flat to save head
room?
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Can I lay a 2x4 flat to save head
room?
Sure, if all it's going to be holding is some drywall.
If, on the other hand, you intend to put one of those ceiling mounts there, for your 27inch television, then you're gonna have a problem.
I use 1 1/2" steel studding. Very easy, strong and won't warp. Check out this site for instructions.
http://www.bmp-group.com/
Bruce
Brewster1 your picture looks great! Did you use the steel studs for both the horizontal and vertical areas? How did you attach it to the floor joist and the wall? Do you have any pictures showing this?
Thanks
Hi Ron, I made a 8" mini wall /12" centre on both sides of the duct and used duct strapping at 3 ft intervals to tie in the sides. Sorry , I should have taken a picture at the time. If you go to the steel stud site it shows this in good detail.
Bruce
Think about using 3/4" MDF or BC plywood for both the structural and finished surface. Like a sheetgoods box, screwed and glued together at the corners and fastened to the studs/joists or what have you with toe-screws. I've used MDF in this fashion for closet partitions where I wanted to save space. MDF takes paint just like primed drywall.
I was thinking about nailing a 2x2 to the bottom of the floor joist then nailing 3/4 plywood for both sides and connecting them in the midle with 2x4 laying flat (about a 4 or 5 foot span) then covering the whole thing with dry wall. I thougth that this would be quick and sometihg that one person could do.
Ron:
Your plan is very much like the way I usually do it. Typically, I nail a 2x3 to the floor joists, hang blocks of 1/2 plywood from the 2x3 at 16" o.c. and then nail another 2x3 on the lower edge of the plywood. Since it's all going to be covered by drywall, there's no need to use continuous strips of plywood or to make it pretty. To span the 5 or so feet I use steel 'hat channel.' It's cheap, light and stiff. Look for it where they sell steel studs.
Al Mollitor, Sharon MA
i've been doing this for years if you have the head room turn'em on edge for added strength string'em end to end as you frame you will end up with a nice end product.
box them in with 3/4 ply and drywall, done it for years
caulking is not a piece of trim