# Basement Partition Wall UNDER Soffit? How to attach ...



## dredd15 (Jul 8, 2011)

Good day.

I'm currently framing my basement, and have come to a point where I need help. Here are the rough plans:










In the space marked "Office" and "Powder Room" there are ducts running through the ceiling area. It seems easiest to simply drop the entire ceiling in these areas to accommodate the ductwork above. I plan on using drywall ceilings.

My question is ... the 8' walls between the office and powder room, and the powder room and unfinished area will fall in this "short ceiling" area. Up until now, I've attached my walls to the floor joists above and nailed them into the concrete on the bottom. 

How should I handle attaching these partition walls under the shorter ceiling, since I can't attach these to the floor joists at the top.

Help?


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

We need to know how the soffits will(or are ) constructed. They should be built first in those areas and the top wall plate attached to those.


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## dredd15 (Jul 8, 2011)

oh'mike said:


> We need to know how the soffits will(or are ) constructed. They should be built first in those areas and the top wall plate attached to those.


Thank you for the reply. The span there is about 8' 3" for the ceiling, so I'm a bit concerned about sagging building it with 2x4's laying "flat" ... but there are two places between the duct work that I could build "short" walls (11" high) that attach to the ceiling joists. So I was planning to build two of those, and run 2x4's between them. 

My challenge is that from the floor to the soffit bottom, I have like 81.75" ... so if I frame the wall, then attach the top plate of the wall to the soffit 2x4's, I don't think I'll have adequate height for a standard sized door between the office and powder room.

Any suggestions? Thanks!


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## sixeightten (Feb 10, 2009)

You can always cut the door down to fit. Some things you just can't change. Sounds like you have the right idea. Just leave the top plate running through, and call it the header for the door. This will tie things in nicely and still leave you a nailer for the top casing on the door.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

Instead of trying to build a stud "short" 'wall to tuck in between the ducts---use plywood---

Lets say the soffit needs to be 14"----Rip plywood to 14"----add a 2x2 to the top on one side and another on the bottom on the other side. that will give you plenty of strength and hopefully enough room to get screws into the joists using a bunch of bit extensions on your drill.

I often build all the soffit sides this way--if the ceiling is furred down with 2x2s.

It's fast---straight--and much narrower than a 2x4 'short wall'--also gives you an easy surface to screw to.--Mike---


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## sixeightten (Feb 10, 2009)

oh'mike said:


> Instead of trying to build a stud "short" 'wall to tuck in between the ducts---use plywood---
> 
> Lets say the soffit needs to be 14"----Rip plywood to 14"----add a 2x2 to the top on one side and another on the bottom on the other side. that will give you plenty of strength and hopefully enough room to get screws into the joists using a bunch of bit extensions on your drill.
> 
> ...



I use this same method to box in steel beams. Plywood rip on both sides, then rip a filler strip to the proper width and insert between the plywood under the beam. It locks itself into place.


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## dredd15 (Jul 8, 2011)

*More Info*

Thanks for the input. Here's another question, and a few photos. 

This photo shows the office from the outside ... as you can see on the right side, I did a sort of traditional "ladder" soffit to box in the ductwork outside the office ... 










But my questions stem from the inside of the office. Here is a photo of the inside ... I'm standing under the soffit in the first photo to shoot this angle:










The plates on the floor are going to be the walls for the bathroom, which will attached to the office. It measures 3' x 8' ... just a powder room.

I'm trying to gain as much ceiling height as possible. There are three colors in this picture:


Red - the height of the other soffit, attached to the walls under the main beam.
Green - the ideal height, but I would have to screw directly into the beam (attaching the 2x4's by toenailing or some other method).
Blue - An area that I could build a 'short wall' from the cealing joists to support the soffit so it doesn't sag in the center.

So my question now is ... can I screw directly into the main support, which is an engineered beam? 

Does anyone else have further suggestions? I pretty much have to make the entire ceiling in this office and bathroom a soffit because of the duct work


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