adding a wall

[cijay]

I'm planning on adding a wall to a living room making it a master bedroom and have a few questions. How would I go about securing the bottom plate to cement? What would be the best way to make sure that the top and bottom plates are parallel? Would it be best to toenail the studs to the top and bottom plates or build the frame on the floor then raise it and nail it?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[noseall]

when building from new and before the plasterboard ceilings (sheetroc) are installed, it would probably make sense to construct a stud wall section on the ground and raise it into place, then fix it.

when adding to an existing build it makes sense to build stud walls piece meal.

fix the sole plate (bottom timber) to the floor by drilling plugging and screwing.
plumb up the sides with a pencil line and level marking the wall or walls.

you can then fix the header to ceiling timbers,using the pencil marks, then simply fill in the uprights in between.

 

[Richard C]

Don’t know about the US but this is how we do it over here; Put a chalk line on the floor where you want your new stud wall, cut two of the stud timbers (4” x 2”!) full height les 2” so you can get the top (ceiling) plate over these for support. At either end of the of the floor line, drop a vertical line down the wall making sure they are plumb; to do this either use a chalk plumb line or use a builders spirit level; put a chalk line across the ceiling between the two vertical lines & you should now have a line all the way around the outside of your stud wall.

Drill through the sole plate into the concrete floor & fix it with frame fixing screws (obviously allowing for the position of the door!), likewise the two vertical end plates although if the existing walls are timber stud you will need to use toggle fixings. The top plate fixing depends on the direction of the joists; if the wall runs parallel you should position the wall so you can screw directly into one of the joists, if at right angles to the wall, establish where the joists are & screw directly into these.

Over here, it’s not usual to make the internal frame up on the floor; to build this, cut the vertical timbers to length & either nail or screw into position at 600mm centres (depending on the size of US wall boards – UK ones are 1200mm x 2400mm) & fit horizontal cross rails half way up to support the wall boards. Position any sockets/light switches (use timber to give something to fix to) & run the cables before fitting the wall boards using drywall screws at approx 300mm centres.