Hello,
I want to install a pocket door in my basement which has floating walls, can anyone provide some pointers on how to install the pocket frame in the wall correctly?
Thanks much!
Hello,
I want to install a pocket door in my basement which has floating walls, can anyone provide some pointers on how to install the pocket frame in the wall correctly?
Thanks much!
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Replies
Floating? Top or bottom?
As long as the head is strong enough fastened to the plate, and the trimmers are plum, doesn't make much difference. Either the top or bottom plate with be held in position (yet still allow up/down slip) while the other will be held firmly
Yeah, what Cal said. We've got three of these.
Mind you, the doors aren't hung yet, but the frames and tracks are all in place and everything looks good. I don't anticipate any problems when the time comes to hang the doors.
Actually, I would think a pocket door would be less of a problem than a conventional door in a bottom-floating wall. There's no torque applied to the framing (and any "slamming" would be end-on to the wall), so the lack of solid anchorage at the bottom wouldn't be a negative factor.
What is a "floating wall"?
What is a "floating wall"?
Well
The slab is what floats. Whether you fasten the wall to the slab and create a slip slide deal up top or fasten the top plate and leave the bottom to stay in place while the slab goes up/down.............up to you. Sometimes done with a deep metal track to keep it in plane, while the wall is built short, allowing it to move up and down. Firmly fastened at one end, allowed to move up and down with the slab.
Colorado perhaps?
I'm used to a situation where a full (but short of the top fastening point) wall is built on a slab under a bar joist roof system which can deflect down quite a bit with snow, water, roofing and mechanical changes. Fasten wall to floor-insert top of the short of the bar joist wall into a deep track that's fastened to the bar joists. Allows the wall to remain secure and plumb, but the roof to move up and down without crushing it.
Never heard of it in any of my architectural training or in my 30 yrs experience in bldg science. Interesting. But why is this the case on a residential application?
I think it's used where they exceptionally expansive clay soils. Changes in moisture levels make the soil expand and contract a great deal.
Well, I never heard of it in a basement situation...........
till I read about it here. I suggest you hunt around for it and get some background info.
It's the case because of the rise and fall of basement slabs and they for one don't want the wall to become disconnected or push up with a rising slab and cause problems with the house framing.
Interesting, isn't it.
Actually, "floating wall"
Actually, "floating wall" just means he needs to pump out the basement.
(Though in this case it most likely means the the wall is attached to the ceiling but the bottom plate stops about 1/2" shy of another plate attached to the floor. Connecting the two are some variety of sliding fasteners -- vertical nails, smooth-shanked lag bolts not driven tight, or a somewhat more purpose-made system. The gap at the bottom of the wall is covered by base molding attached to the floor-mounted plate.)