Floating Wall from metal I-beam - which first?


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Old 05-14-16, 07:40 PM
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Floating Wall from metal I-beam - which first?

The base plate is installed. [See heading--this is a Floating Wall. --required in CO]

Now should I:

(1) build the framing then setup and clamp to beam, shoot nails to attach the top plate (and thus the entire wall) to beam flange. [This is sort of my preference, but not sure if I'm overlooking something that would prevent this. Then drill hole in bottom plate and pin to base plate.

--or---

(2) attach the top plate to the flange (before framing out the wall). Then somehow attach the studs and bottom plate afterward? Not sure how I would proceed after attaching the top plate to the beam since the bottom plate is floating.

Thanks in advance for your advice !
 
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Old 05-15-16, 06:47 AM
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It kind of depends on the size of the room and the amount of room you have to maneuver, but yeah you can do it either way.

If you build the wall on the floor, build it about 1 5/8" shorter than the height you have to work with. Then set it on top of your bottom plate, and use a wrecking bar to lift it up and slip a few scraps of 2x4 under it to shim it up tight. I generally will both glue and nail to the iron. Then remove the temporary 2x4 scraps.

If you stick build it, you would lay the 2x4 scraps on the bottom plate, the lay your upper bottom plate on top to give it the required spacing. (You will remove these 2x4 scraps later) Nail up your top plate. Each stud would be "toenailed" to the top and upper bottom plate, which means putting 2 nails at a steep angle on one side, one on the other. It takes some practice to get the angle right, and also the height, so that nails don't come protruding out the bottom.
 
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Old 05-15-16, 07:39 AM
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I agree with Brant on his second method. Just don't forget the spikes driven through the upper bottom plate into the bottom bottom plate to prevent lateral sway. Once you remove the blocking, the two bottom plates can move with the ground swell vertically.
 
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Old 05-15-16, 07:18 PM
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Thanks for the advice! I think we will try Option 1 since we have the space to frame it out first.
 
 

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