Basement Remodel Project – The Frame

If you’ve ever played with Lincoln logs or Legos as a child, you’ll recall that building from the outside-in was the best way to construct a house.  With basement remodeling, you can apply the same timeless methodology in your project.  Start with the frames. The frame includes top and bottom plates, studs, and floor joists. For our basement, we’ll use metal frames to solidify the structure  of the basement.

Metal frames has some advantages. The frames don’t warp, and they even have convenient holes to slide wires and cables.  We’ll outline the walls ands rooms in our project with these metal studs.

With roughly 100 2×3 metal studs and 25 top and bottom plates, we’re ready attach the studs to the top and bottom plates.

Before you lay the top and bottom plates, make sure that you check your plan layout. Lay the bottom plate according to the height specifications based on the plan.  With the studs cut, based on the height specifications, you can place the studs inside the bottom plate.  In most cases, the direction of the open side of the stud does not matter, unless the stud is hugging the corner wall.  If so, make sure that the flat side hugs the corners. 

To connect the studs to the top and bottom plates,  use a drill or impact drill to screw the studs tightly.  Connect the screws on the top and bottom for both sides by drilling the screws between the two small bumps found on each plates.  These two bumps represent the distance of 16 inches relative to the next set of bumps.  This distance is crucial to maintaining a uniformed structure throughout the  basement frame.  

Once the frames are set, erect the frames up against the wall.  In our case, we used a Hilti concrete gun to bolt the bottom studs to the concrete every 16 inches.   This will ground your bottom plates to the concrete, solidifying the frame set.

Using your blueprints or plans, keep erecting frames until you reach a corner.  For corners, you’ll need to prop the studs perpendicular so that the flat sides are facing out.  By doing so, the dry walls have a flat surface to corner.

We’ll continue with advance techniques for framing next time, with more basement remodel pictures.

If you’d like more advice and information, contact Brian at brian@phillydiy.com