# Basement half wall



## tekmonkey (Dec 24, 2015)

I'm interested in dividing part of my finished basement by building a half wall (between 36-42" tall). The half wall will span aprox. 8.5 ft across and will be attached to two existing walls on both sides (fastened to studs in these walls). There is existing wall-to-wall carpeting, on top of a concrete floor.

I realize the optimal thing to do is to cut the carpet, secure the bottom plate to the concrete floor, attaching both sides of the wall to the adjoining walls on both sides, and resecuring the carpet on both sides of the new wall with new tack strips and restretching the carpet properly.

HOWEVER, I'm interested in keeping this wall relatively easy to remove in the future. I'm concerned that a future buyer may not like it, so I'll want to remove it before or after listing the house in the future. Given this is just a knee wall without any need to support anything, is it feasible to build it on top of the carpet? Otherwise, the whole carpet would need to be replaced if the wall was ever removed in the future. (I realize this is generally not ideal, but don't want to over-engineer something that is potentially temporary)

If I go this route, what's the best way to secure the wall to ensure it's not wobbly? Should I attempt to still fasten the bottom plate through the carpet to the concrete floor in a couple of spots? For extra security, I could potentially lag bolt the wall to the stud on the adjoining interior wall. The other stud is on an exterior wall, so I would probably only be able to fasten to that wall using screws, not bolts.

Any thoughts or general recommendations about this process?


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## nealtw (Dec 24, 2015)

Leaving just sitting on the carpet would be fine, although after any amount of time, evidence will always show up on the carpet that the wall was there.
Six or eight nails or screws on each side will hold it fine but there may not be a stud where you want it in the other walls.
If that is the case,  cut a hole in the drywall, 3 1/2 inches wide and 12 inches high starting about 18 inches  off the floor. then you can slide a block down inside and secure it with drywall screws and the slide a block up and secure it with screws. Now when you build the wall you will have something to screw to and the wall hides the hole that you cut.


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## Snoonyb (Dec 24, 2015)

tekmonkey said:


> I'm interested in dividing part of my finished basement by building a half wall (between 36-42" tall). The half wall will span aprox. 8.5 ft across and will be attached to two existing walls on both sides (fastened to studs in these walls). There is existing wall-to-wall carpeting, on top of a concrete floor.
> 
> I realize the optimal thing to do is to cut the carpet, secure the bottom plate to the concrete floor, attaching both sides of the wall to the adjoining walls on both sides, and resecuring the carpet on both sides of the new wall with new tack strips and restretching the carpet properly.
> 
> ...



Set it on the carpet and use 3 TAPCONS to secure.

Use screws to secure on both ends.

There are products such a MDF in thicknesses from 1/4" which can be used as the wall finish, which will reduce the "mess" often encountered in wall removal.

Screws will afford you to employ that age old hole patch technique, of a little dab of toothpaste.


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## slownsteady (Dec 24, 2015)

First, why assume the wall will be removed? And why would you remove it before the house goes on the market? You can never tell (despite what HGTV would want you to believe) what the next buyer likes or not.
Second, I would bet the next buyer will get rid of the carpet in either case. Especially a basement carpet that could potentially get damp at times.
Third, what purpose will the wall serve? Unless it has a heavy duty purpose, you could probably secure at the wall ends only. In fact, you might even find a way to make it look good suspended above the floor...kind of like a railing with solid sides.
The previous owner here built a closet in the bedroom on top of the carpet. I always hated it-until I tore it out and built a proper closet. It just reminded me of the shoddy work he did throughout the house.


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## Snoonyb (Dec 24, 2015)

slownsteady said:


> First, why assume the wall will be removed? And why would you remove it before the house goes on the market? You can never tell (despite what HGTV would want you to believe) what the next buyer likes or not.
> Second, I would bet the next buyer will get rid of the carpet in either case. Especially a basement carpet that could potentially get damp at times.
> Third, what purpose will the wall serve? Unless it has a heavy duty purpose, you could probably secure at the wall ends only. In fact, you might even find a way to make it look good suspended above the floor...kind of like a railing with solid sides.
> The previous owner here built a closet in the bedroom on top of the carpet. I always hated it-until I tore it out and built a proper closet. It just reminded me of the shoddy work he did throughout the house.



Relieving the wall from direct contact with the floor is an excellent point.

I wonder, since I've used it many times with sagging wrought Iron, why it didn't occur to me.

Must have been the wood.

In furtherance to the "KISS" principal, most hdw. vendors will carry an appliance replacement leg on a threaded shaft which in this case, 3ea and 2 washers and nuts each, will stand the wall above the carpet.


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## oldognewtrick (Dec 24, 2015)

Curious as to why the half wall, if you are just wanting to divide, why not look at office partitions for cubicles?


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## nealtw (Dec 24, 2015)

Keep the kids out of the man cave


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## tekmonkey (Dec 24, 2015)

oldognewtrick said:


> Curious as to why the half wall, if you are just wanting to divide, why not look at office partitions for cubicles?



Well, I want it to look like it's permanent. I will have a couch up against this half wall. Right now, the couch acts as the divider between the two sections of the room. However, I think that looks a bit unfinished--as if a big piece of furniture is impeding the room... 

So the thought is that by building a half wall here, it will make the room look a little more finished, like the couch is supposed to be there.



slownsteady said:


> First, why assume the wall will be removed? And why would you remove it before the house goes on the market? You can never tell (despite what HGTV would want you to believe) what the next buyer likes or not.
> Second, I would bet the next buyer will get rid of the carpet in either case. Especially a basement carpet that could potentially get damp at times.
> Third, what purpose will the wall serve? Unless it has a heavy duty purpose, you could probably secure at the wall ends only. In fact, you might even find a way to make it look good suspended above the floor...kind of like a railing with solid sides.
> The previous owner here built a closet in the bedroom on top of the carpet. I always hated it-until I tore it out and built a proper closet. It just reminded me of the shoddy work he did throughout the house.



I don't assume the wall will be removed, but am not 100% sure building the half wall here is going to work out in the long-term, so want an easier option to remove it in the future (either for myself or a future buyer).

As noted above, the wall is just a divider and a couch will set up against it on one side. It won't be bearing any weight with a bar on top or anything like that.

I'd like to finish it off with baseboards so that it's hopefully not noticeable to most people that it's built over carpet. 



Snoonyb said:


> Set it on the carpet and use 3 TAPCONS to secure.
> 
> Use screws to secure on both ends.
> 
> ...



Since it's going to be joined with drywall on either side, I'll probably stick with drywall, even though MDF would be easier to remove.



nealtw said:


> Leaving just sitting on the carpet would be fine, although after any amount of time, evidence will always show up on the carpet that the wall was there.
> Six or eight nails or screws on each side will hold it fine but there may not be a stud where you want it in the other walls.
> If that is the case,  cut a hole in the drywall, 3 1/2 inches wide and 12 inches high starting about 18 inches  off the floor. then you can slide a block down inside and secure it with drywall screws and the slide a block up and secure it with screws. Now when you build the wall you will have something to screw to and the wall hides the hole that you cut.



There are existing studs on both sides, so that hopefully shouldn't be a problem. Any thought about whether screws on both sides will be sufficient or should I look into bolting the sides to the existing studs?


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## slownsteady (Dec 24, 2015)

3 1/2 inch construction screws will surely hold it firm. And you can back them out if needed.

As neal said above, the carpet will eventually show marks where the wall sat on it. How is the carpet protected from moisture?


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## tekmonkey (Dec 24, 2015)

slownsteady said:


> 3 1/2 inch construction screws will surely hold it firm. And you can back them out if needed.
> 
> As neal said above, the carpet will eventually show marks where the wall sat on it. How is the carpet protected from moisture?



It was installed before I purchased the house, and I have never pulled it up to see how it is installed. It's wall-to-wall carpeting, so I assume it was installed by a professional rather than a DIYer. However, I also would not be surprised to discover it does not have a proper vapor barrier. The carpet itself has never felt noticeably damp.


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## nealtw (Dec 24, 2015)

You could build it a little off the carpet and apply the molding closer to the floor. You just drive some screws thru the bottom plate so the screws are the only thing touching the floor.
The top of the wall is only as strong as the 2 nails on each end holding the top plate to the outer studs. A few screws will be fine.
Not being attached top or bottom it may want to warp with changing seasons so the best is to plan for double plate top and bottom.
Crown the plates and mix them so you have one crown out and the other in, start at one end screwing them together and push and pull them together as you work you way along. Best with a helper if they are really crowned.
This the time when you don't look for the straightest lumber so you can use this trick


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## tekmonkey (Dec 25, 2015)

nealtw said:


> You could build it a little off the carpet and apply the molding closer to the floor. You just drive some screws thru the bottom plate so the screws are the only thing touching the floor.
> The top of the wall is only as strong as the 2 nails on each end holding the top plate to the outer studs. A few screws will be fine.
> Not being attached top or bottom it may want to warp with changing seasons so the best is to plan for double plate top and bottom.
> Crown the plates and mix them so you have one crown out and the other in, start at one end screwing them together and push and pull them together as you work you way along. Best with a helper if they are really crowned.
> This the time when you don't look for the straightest lumber so you can use this trick



Interesting idea. I'm not sure I followed every step you suggested here.

What's the goal in getting the bottom floor off the carpet? Is it to prevent moisture issues? Is it to try to keep the carpet in good shape by not having the wall rest directly on it?

So should the screws through the bottom plate go deep enough to stick through the carpet fibers and leave the bottom plate about 1/2" or so off the ground?

I know what a crown is, but having trouble picturing what this "trick" is you're describing.


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## Snoonyb (Dec 25, 2015)

tekmonkey said:


> Interesting idea. I'm not sure I followed every step you suggested here.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## nealtw (Dec 26, 2015)

tekmonkey said:


> Interesting idea. I'm not sure I followed every step you suggested here.
> 
> What's the goal in getting the bottom floor off the carpet? Is it to prevent moisture issues? Is it to try to keep the carpet in good shape by not having the wall rest directly on it?
> 
> ...



Snoonyb pretty much covered it.
My thinking for a raised wall was if the carpet does get wet you could remove molding and allow it to dry and the pile of the carpet will not get crushed with weight of the wall.
Only other thought was galvined screws, incase things do get wet we don't want the crews rusting.


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