Basement knee wall

I'm going to build a half wall in our unfinished basement. It will stretch from the studs on the stairwell to the concrete wall on the opposite side, but will actually be 2 small half walls since I will have a baby gate in the middle. We're making a little rec room for the kids but my wife only wants a half wall so she can watch them play from the other side while she is working on her stuff. My question is whats the best way to anchor since I will have a door in the middle? I won't be attaching to any supports, just the floor and one wall for each of my half walls. Should I anchor into the concrete on the wall as well, not just the floor? I'm not worried about a little wobble since this is just a temporary deal for a few years until we actually finish the basement. Any input is appreciated.

 

Based on what you said, I would attach it to the wall & the floor. You can still use a few floor to ceiling studs for support. It's not going to block your wife's view of the children.
Another idea is don't build anything. I'm sure that there are partitions available that will do the same job & they are easy to remove when the children get bigger.

 

To strengthen the knee wall on either side of the "doorway" opening, you could use a tension bolt.

What you would do is mark out your wall and opening on the floor with a chalk line. About 6" away from the doorway, drill a hole in the concrete on either side, (using a rotary hammer) that will be centered within your bottom plate. Epoxy a 4' long threaded rod (such as 1/2", 5/8" or 3/4" rod) into the hole using an anchor epoxy (and mixing nozzle), available at any box store.

Then slip your bottom plate over the rod and frame your wall, using a single top plate. Put a washer and nut on top of the top plate and tighten it down, checking the wall for plumb. If it's not plumb for some reason, insert a shim as needed under one side of the bottom plate, then tighten it down again. The more tension you have on the bolt, the less the wall will wobble.

Then cut off the excess threaded rod, apply a second top plate onto the wall, counterbored to fit over and hide the nut.

It's critical to clean, brush, blow the hole several times when you want to epoxy a concrete hole... buy the right size pipe cleaner for your hole.