Floating Walls w/metal studs


  #1  
Old 03-07-01, 03:20 PM
atwoodkid
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I've been reading this forum and other help books on metal studing and am interested. Currently the requirement where I live is to build basement walls that float by nailing a pressure treated wood to the cement floor and then framing with normal 2x4's. with another horizontal piece tied to the wall framing and attached to the pressure treated wood with a spike. The frame then can float on the spike so if the floor moves the wall is not damaged. Question is how to do it if I'm going to use metal studs. Would I still need to place the pressure treated wood on the floor and then create the frame using metal studs? Am I making too much of this?
 
  #2  
Old 03-18-01, 09:03 PM
some help
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Could you be a little more pacific about how they want the wall to float this is a new one on me.....It is common to first lay down a pressure treated 2x4 for plate and frame on top of it with an add 2x4 bottom plate....If you nail it to the PT plate with a big spike how is going to float?
 
  #3  
Old 03-21-01, 02:47 PM
atwoodkid
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Floating Walls w/metal studs

Well I'll see if I can make sense of this. The floating wall works something like this, you fasten a pressure treated 2x4 to the concrete floor. Then you create the frame wall which would be about 6 inches shorter in length from floor to ceiling. holes are drilled into the bottom plate for the spike. Then you place the wall on some small 2x4's to hold the walll up. The spike goes thru the plate into the pressure treated wood but the spike is not fastened to the plate so the wall can move up and down on the spike as the floor rises and falls. Not sure that makes sense
 
  #4  
Old 03-21-01, 03:09 PM
some help
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hello
Thank you for getting back to me. As I see it you would want to have the PT on the floor to give extra support to the wall moving from side to side and if the wall were to raise up you would not be able to see under the wall to the other room.....Thanks again and ..Good Luck
 
  #5  
Old 03-21-01, 08:03 PM
J
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I'm very familiar with floating walls made from wood, and I've seen floating walls made from steel, but I don't quite remember all the details. The general idea is that a deep bottom channel on the floor allows the room for the floor to rise and fall.

If you live in an area with expansive soils (I'm guessing Colorado -- am I close?), then the guys at your local home improvement center should be able to show you how to do this. Also, chance are your building department has a diagram showing how to do this. Of course, it's much easier to find this information for wood studs, but I assume you can find it for steel too.

To some help: The baseboard hides movement in the wall, and prevents you from seeing under the wall. The baseboard is attached to the sole plate, but not to the wall, so it moves up and down with the floor. Typically in floating wall systems, you use a taller than usual baseboard -- perhaps a 5" baseboard rather than a 3" baseboard.
 
  #6  
Old 03-21-01, 09:09 PM
some help
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Hello John
Thanks for the help...I thought he may be trying to just use the metal plate and let it float...No fixed plate to nail the base to....As always I like to see your thought in the forum..Always right on..Good Job...
 
  #7  
Old 04-10-01, 08:33 PM
atwoodkid
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Thanks for the info, that makes sense. Also sorry for tardy reply, had a death in the family to attend to.
 
 

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