Basement finishing - stud estimation

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jreed

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I am getting ready to frame up a few rooms in my open basement. The first will involve 2 wall, a 10' wall with a door and a 17' wall. Is there a rule of thumb for estimating lumber needs for such a project?
 

Dana

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For partition walls it's stud for ever 16" of running length plus a single top & bottom plate (it's not a structural wall, no need to double up.) Add add three studs per door. So for a blank 8' section of wall it's 8 studs, 8' long, 11 studs if there's a door. Add an extra stud for any corners too. Given that some studs are straighter/better than others of you just went with 8 studs for every 8' of wall and used 12 footers for the plates and had a couple of studs left over it's not a disaster.

Are you finishing off any exterior walls as well? If yes it's important to get the insulation details right to avoid turning it into a mold farm. An inch or more of EPS foam-board with the seams taped and the edges can-foam sealed to the foundation, and unfaced batts in the walls is enough for wintertime dew-point control in MD, and will allow the studs to dry toward the interior.

If there is no under-slab insulation, put an inch of foam board under the bottom plates of the studwalls (even the partition walls) as a thermal & capillary break, and avoid insulating floor finishes such as rugs, which risk get moldy on the underside during the summer when the dew point of the ventilation air is higher than the deep subsoil temperatures.
 

hj

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One of the first requirements to do a job is deciding HOW you are going to do it, and then you figure out, from that, how much material you need. WE can give you what WE would need, but if you do not know how to install it the way we would, the list would b wrong.
 
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