VERY early stages of finishing basement...have a zillion questions!

af4caster

Hi all,

I am new to the forum, but hopefully I will be around often to get some great advise from you all.

I have brand new house (2yrs old) that has a nice big basement (appox. 1100 sq feet) that is unfinished. We of course would love to make use of the space. I know there is a lot to do before I get to the nitty gritty, but I have a few questions I would like some guidance on, since I am clueless.

My biggest concern right now is how I would deal with attaching the walls to the 'ceiling' with they way the builders left things. You can see by the pictures (hopefully) that they have 2X4's running towards the concrete walls, but they stop anywhere from a foot or so away. I don't see how I would end up attaching the framed walls to the top. Anyone have any ideas/suggestions?

That is all I have for now, will make use of that wonderful 'search' feature to find other answers.

Thanks in advance!

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AllanJ

Your floor framing uses those trusses made up with 2x4's instead of 2x8 or 2x10 joists and the horizontal pieces of 2x4 ending short of the foundation wall are not compromised in terms of strength.

Right now I am thinking of making rectangles (maybe 14" wide by 8" tall) out of pieces of 2x4 and fastening these to the subfloor underside (the "ceiling"), perpendicular to and between the trusses, and directly above where the new wall framing shoule be. Then fastening the new wall framing cap (upper horizontal 2x4) to the underside of those rectangles. (The height of the rectangles is so that the new wall framing clears the diagonal members of the trusses.)

For starters, do not drill through or trim away or alter the trusses in any way. Do not cut or pry off any portion of the perforated metal rectangles. They were scientifically designed to support the floor and a hole drilled in the wrong place can drastically weaken the truss. (There are some places where it is safe to drill but I'm not sure where.)

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af4caster

I figured I would have to do something like this. If you look in the 3rd pic (1st in 2nd row), you can see that I really can't reach the subfloor above. The tresses block me from getting clear access to it. Not sure how to attach the rectangles you speak of...

Gary in WA

I'd get a permit at the local AHJ and do a "walk-through" with them or get some literature from them on basement finishing. May be as simple as a 4' 2x4 nailed on-edge to the floor trusses bottom cord every other one. Nail your wall's (fire-stopping) top plate to the 2x which only prevents the wall from tipping. That would stop the vertical draft as in post #21, 22; How to fireblock framing

I'd pull the poly builders insulation, remove the poly and spread it in the attic; http://www.buildingscience.com/docum...ts?full_view=1

Gary
PS. Rims; http://www.buildingscience.com/docum...l_seal_rev.pdf

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mae-ling

They are 12" away? That is close enough to attach drywall to, Attach ceiling first, run walls horizontal and it holds the edge then tape, Hard to believe but it is actually better then screwing it right in the corner.