Generally, adding a wall in an already existing room is easy. Just nail the floor plate to the floor and the top plate to the ceiling joists and you are ready to install the wall studs. But what happens when you want to add a wall between a ceiling joist? Sometimes new walls don't cross ceiling joists, making fastening the top plates a bit of a challenge.
Instructions
Walls That Have an Unfinished Space Above
1. Mark the ceiling with the location of the top plate.
2. Use a drill and drive a screw through the ceiling at both ends of the wall.
3. Enter the attic or unfinished space and look for the screws protruding up from the ceiling to locate where the wall will be in relation to the ceiling joists. You might need to remove insulation to find them.
4. Measure the distance between the joists that fall on either side of the wall.
5. Use a hand, circular or miter saw to cut 2-foot by 4-foot studs according to the distance measured in Step 4.
6. Return to the attic and install the 2-foot by 4-foot blocks, laying them on top of the ceiling and then nailing them to both joists. Space them on 16-inch centers, just like standard framing. Make sure to put a block at both ends of the wall, even if it doesn't fall on a 16-inch center.
7. Attach the top plates to the ceiling by fastening them through the ceiling and into the blocks installed above the ceiling in Step 6.
8. Attach the floor plate to the floor and then fill in the wall studs.
Walls That Don't Have an Unfinished Space Above
9. Mark the ceiling with the location of the top plate.
10. Attach the top plate to the ceiling by using 3-inch screws and drilling them in at different angles to each other. This will provide a friction hold that will be sufficient to keep the plate on the ceiling while the wall studs are being installed. Once the wall studs are installed, they will keep the top plate pressed against the ceiling and the screws will prevent it from sliding side-to-side.
11. Fasten the floor plates to the floor and then install the wall studs.
Tags: wall studs, ceiling joists, floor plate, , with location plate,