building a half-wall

tony1853

Hi all! Need some guidance here...

I have a townhouse that has a combined living room / dining area. I want to build a half-wall to separate the two spaces. Here's the catch: the wall will be anchored to another wall at only one end - i.e., it will run perpendicular to a wall, its studs will be screwed to studs in that wall...and this will happen on only one end.

I remember hearing that you should make a whole in the plywood subfloor to anchor the bottom of the "unanchored" stud to a floor joist beneath...but this is on the main floor which is a concrete slab underneath.

1) So, is it sufficient for the half-wall being anchored to the floor and on only 1 side? or do I need to do something special with the other end with regards to the concrete slab?

2) when securing the bottom of the frame to the concrete slab...I assume there are special nails for this??

THANKS ALL!!!

Bob Mariani

Yes this can be done

Yes connecting to the joist is preferred or you can anchor a large steel angle bracket to the floor to hold this last stud. Place the base plate over this. Anchor your base plate with tapcon concrete crews. Run this plate 1 1/2" short of the overall rough dimension. Place the last stud securely nailed to the end of this plate. Double that stud up on the inside of the end stud and on top of the base plate. This will strengthen this end.

Wildie

Or you could drill into the slab, drive a steel rod, into the ground, then apply cement around the rod to close the hole off!

Bob Mariani

I agree, this is a good idea. Run the rod through the top plate and bolt it down.

smcmurrey

The house I'm building has a bar with a wall similar to yours only mine will have cabinets on one side. I've been working on the house for months without the supporting cabinets installed, leaning on this bar and it has a lot of movement at the open end. It is only nailed to the concrete and that seems to be enough. Make sure you use 1/2" or better plywood on each side of the half wall to add side-side strength or consider putting a decorative/structural post from floor-celing at the end of each half wall.

tony1853

Thanks for all of the info guys. I was considering a column...I assume they sell "pre-made" coumns? Nothing very big around, as the wall will have a ledge on top, but only be "wall-thick" - I guess 6" because of the 2X4's and then 1/2" rock on either side.

I wonder if I could use a not-so-big-around stair newel??

Scuba_Dave

The 1/2 wall I built had cabinets to within about 18" of the end on one side. This made the wall stable. Without the cabinets there was movement. So make sure its nice & stable before its finished off

tony1853

Hi, can you include a photo of the angle bracket? I am not familiar with it.

Also, by "base plate", I take that to mean the 2x4 running along the concrete floor - yes?

thanks

Bob Mariani

yes the 2X 4 along the floor is a base plate. or a sole plate. Any 4" long steel angle bracket should help. Another option is a post support made for attaching a deck post to concrete.
Or use something like this and anchor the bottom into the concrete floor.

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