Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Jun 03, 1999 01:47am | #1

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   Hi Anthony,

   The problem with the load bearing wall in a basement is not a problem at all.

   After the footings are all completed you build the wall on top of masonry blocks, layed on the concrete footings (4" blocks for a 4" stud wall or 6" blocks for a 6" stud wall. Put a gasket between the masonry and wood plates and off you go.

   If you use TJIs you can span the whole basement and the only place that you would have hangers is at the stair well.

   Hope this helps

   Gabe

2. 
   G.LaLonde | Jun 03, 1999 03:06am | #2

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   Anthony, I don't understand why you have such a problem pouring the floor before you start framing. It certainly is much easier on everybody....Masons, carpenters, everyone. You can run plumbing in almost any basement in a day, two at the most, then pour the whole floor the next day. It's a whole lot easier working with elephant trunks or pumpers than wheeling concrete around a basement in the dark with a wheelbarrow.

   I think you need to tinker with your scheduling and you'll save yourself a lot of trouble.....

3. 
   Anthony_Perkins | Jun 11, 1999 07:15am | #3

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   Asking for advice from experienced builders:

   We have always had trouble with plans calling for load-bearing
   walls in the basement, and another such plan landed today...the
   footings for these walls are poured at the same time as the
   exterior footings, a routine activity, but not a particularly
   precise one. Then, we have to find a way to place our bottom
   plate for the load bearing walls at the finish slab level. We've
   tried pouring a 3-1/2" - 4" 'curb' for these walls, after the
   forms have been stripped, but this has not worked all that well,
   and involves bringing a concrete truck back with a small load (or
   worse, we've tried mixing ourselves, much too tedious).
   In our area (Quebec, Canada, near the Vermont/New Hampshire
   border) basement slabs are typically poured after the house is
   well closed in, and there is a lot of plumbing,etc., going under
   this slab. Pouring the complete floor before the framing started
   looks to be out of the question...
   Beams present their own set of drawbacks. We use I-beam
   truss joists, and try to minimize joist hangers, the weak point
   of the truss-joist system, so flush beams are probably out. And
   we may have headroom problems with beams below the joists. This
   basement is definitely living space (most of it).
   Has anyone found a system that might work more smoothly,
   without all these conflicts???
   Our building methods resemble those featured in recent FHB
   articles by the team of Arnold/Guertin, to give you an idea of
   what we're doing. Our area is an extension of the US northeast
   (New England).

   Anthony

   PS:
   Has anyone had experience with "AvanTeck" sub-flooring? The
   material has just arrived here. We've never used OSB for sub-
   flooring, but plywood prices here have gone through the roof
   recently.

   Thanks,
   A

4. 
   Guest_ | Jun 11, 1999 07:15am | #4

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   Anthony,

   From the date of your post, this may be too late to help.

   Assuming you placed a footing for the load bearing wall when you placed the perimeter footings this will work. Get some old mud buckets (or something similiar) and cut them off at the finished floor height. Set them on interval on the footing. Frame up with temporary posts set off the finished wall line. Place your floor. Frame the finished wall in place. Take out the posts and break out the forms. Patch the holes.

   Or, simply place the floor befor you do any framing at all.