Getting Started

I finally committed to getting started on the walls this past weekend. Thanks to a friend for letting me borrow his truck. An early run to Lowes, and several trips down the bilco door carrying lumber and I was ready to go.

The first order of business was to determine the wall placements. I started on the back wall where the circuit panel is located. The panel is fixed, so I had to locate the wall respectively so everything would line up flush after the drywall was installed within the "flex" feature of the panel front. I started by dropping a plumb bob using the first floor joist as my reference. I backed into the stud location next to the panel and determined the offset to the plumb bob mark. Using this offset, I determine the stud location from the joist in three other locations to snap a line. I doublechecked the line by dry fitting the base 2x4's on these marks to make sure the foundation wall didn't move into the space I needed. Thankfully it didn't. The closest spot leaves about a 1/4" or so between the back of the stud and the wall.

On the front wall, I have a small section where the concrete flowed in about an 1" more in than everywhere else. This would be my determining location for the wall, so in this case, I dropped a plumb line from the center support beam in the middle of the room and measured over. Using the center beam again as my reference, I placed two more marks at this offset distance and snapped a line for the base stud location. This method worked great and I set to work building the wall. So I didn't have to deal with tipping the wall sections up and shimming them in place, I framed everything in place. After marking stud locations, on top, I nailed the plate to the bottom of the joists. On the bottom, I used a combination of construction adhesive and concrete nails every 16" to fasten the treated lumber to the floor. The studs, I just marked off to length and cut them on the miter and toenailed them in place. In most of the locations, I used screws on top and the nailer on the bottom just because it was easier. Even at 110psi, the nailer drives screws all the way when perpendicular to the board, but usually leaves an 1/8" or so out when nailing at an angle. Here's the front wall complete. As you can see, I opted to line up the stud spacing with the first floor joists to keep it simple.