Best way to frame concrete half wall in daylight partial exposure basement?

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snokel

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Hi,
Just wondering if anyone had tips on how to frame the concrete partial wall.

I am thinking that If I capped the wall with 2x8 pressure treated lumber first so it is even with the existing sill plate and then use that as the top plate
to frame it stick by stick?

I would then use a plumb bob to postion the bottom plate. this would give me about 3/4 of a inch from the back of the studs to the concrete.


Thanks
 

Reach4

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No direct answer to your question, but some houses have a piece of sheet metal (copper in the old days) to function as a termite barrier between the concrete and the wood. Maybe this is not needed with poured concrete or pressure treated wood. I don't know what the modern practice is.
 

snokel

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hi,
Yes, the existing sill plate is pressure treated with a foam sill seal between the pressure treated sill plate and top of the concrete wall.
I don't know for sure if I need the sill seal on the inside of the wall or if just the PT 2x2 will be sufficient. I think the sill seal is not needed as the bottom plates of the partition walls don't have it.

I talked to my building inspector and he said the sill seal is not required for the cap/top plate on a half wall.
 
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snokel

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in case anyone else is doing this.
I went and got a PT 2x8x10 and cut it to fit the half wall in the office I am framing in the basement and bolted it to the half wall with 1/4 inch tapcons, worked perfectly and gave me a 1 inch gap between the studs and wall and provided a perfectly level top plate to frame off of, it also lined up perfectly with the existing sill, I asked our local inspector if a sill seal was required on the inside and he said it's not required since the sill is already sealed from the existing wall sitting on the concrete. The stupid floor had a 1/4 difference from one end to the other for this section of wall, had I built the wall first and then raised it into postion I would to have shimmed the heck out of it. I will post a picture when I am done with this section of half wall.

The hardest part was finding a mostly straight PT 2x8x10 :)
 

snokel

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Turned out pretty good.

IMG_20140313_195331.jpg
 

snokel

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I do not know what your problem was. It looks like an ordinary framing job from here.

The problem was I wasn't exactly sure how to frame the half wall. The first time I did it it was very difficult to get the top plate of the half wall aligned with the top of the concrete because the
floor was off by a 1/4 inch from end to end, so I used the 2x8 cap as the top plate and that worked out really well. so the 2x8 serves as the cap and the wall top plate.
 

Dana

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With the poly vapor barrier in place you need to VERY carefully air-seal the framing at the bottom to the concrete or you will get 10x the amount of moisture transfer into the studwall above via convection than you would have had you only used latex paint as your interior side air barrier and made it all air tight. Can-foam works.

It's worth caulking the wallboard to the framing at every stud too.

Not all of that concrete is below grade, and would thus benefit from insulation, but you can't just jam some batts in there or you'll have frost/condenstation issues in winter. If there's a gap between the stud edges and concrete it's prudent to can-foam seal that, and to cut 1" EPS to fit against the concrete in the stud-bays, sealing the EPS to the foam. You can then safely compress unfaced batts into the cavities to fatten out the R.
 

snokel

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Dana,
Do you mean sealing under the cap where the concrete meets the treated 2x8? There is a sill seal on the 2x6 stud wall that sits on the concrete 1/2 wall. I asked the building inspector if sill seal was required for the 3 inches of concrete covered by the 2x8 but he said it's not needed.

The poly sheating is sealed against the 2x6 stud wall really well with sheathing tape as well as all the staples. Before I really sealed it well there was some frost on the OSB behind the fiber glass when it was below zero here for extended periods this winter.

If I decide to spray foam the new framing I may just rip all that out and have it all spray foamed. not really sure yet.
 
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