Partition Walls And Door Openings-Metal Studs

Once you have your outside walls in place you need to figure out where you want your  steel stud  partition walls that will divide the rooms of your basement, bathroom, bedrooms, family room and so on. Pick your first wall with a door opening in it and draw a line on your floor as to where it will be located and cut your 2x4 wood floor track the full length of your wall. Take your ram set gun and fasten the wood track to your concrete, you will notice this time we are not going to fasten the steel track on top of the 2x4 first because of the door opening.

These instructions are for prefabricated doors because they are very easy to work with and will save you untold grief if your are not familiar with hanging doors,  also this procedure is designed for them. Now measure the width of you prefab door from outside to outside of the jam, by example if the measurement you take 30" inches wide you are going to mark your door opening on the 2x4 wood track as 30 1/4 inches wide if this seems tight compared with the rough opening the instructions say , you are right but this is not the conventional way of framing and you will love it's ease and simplicity.

Now cut your steel track to go on top of the wood leaving of course the door opening you marked and fasten it down using your drywall screws after the rest of the wall is built you will cut out the 2x4 for your door opening. Important: Make sure the 2x4 wood track is fasten with the ram set well on both sides of where your door will be and make sure it is not fasten where it will be cut out, the reason it is cut out after the wood is fasten is to keep your door perfectly straight. Many of your probably know most of this but for the sake of those who are just learning I want to cover every point I can.

Once your track is fasten on the bottom measure your metal track for the top the same size as the bottom and cut it, now you may need some help with this next step as you need to hold the track to the ceiling while you measure for your vertical steel wall stud and cut it 1/4 inch short of your measurement. Place the stud in the one end of your wall and with your level on the stud level that end of your wall and put a drywall screw in the ceiling track into your wood joists. Repeat on the other end but keep the stud back from your door opening you will know why soon  then put a metal stud in the middle until your wall is plum and fastened. You will notice this is just a reverse procedure from your outside walls,so cut the rest of your wall studs and place them where they should go. fasten them using your clamps and 1/2  inch self tapping screw, now contrary to what many will say is that your just need one screw on one side top and bottom. In high  rise construction this is only done where necessary such as outside walls for insulation or where braces are used for pluming etc. But if you wish knock yourself out, remember the drywall is the real fastener and strength.

Continue with this procedure in building the rest of your partition walls and door openings. Now lets install a door. Yes you are reading this right you are going to install your doors before you drywall. OK let's install a door you will need to cut out the 2x4 wood track where your door is going this can be done with a good hand saw or better a reciprocating saw, do not pry on the wood to remove it or you will possibly damage the work you have done make a clean cut through. Figure out which way you want your door to open and where your hinge side will be, now on the hinge side of your wall measure for a wood stud from the top track down to the bottom and cut 1/4 inch less. Now slide this wood stud into the track and at he bottom fasten through the track into the stud with 1 1/4 inch drywall screw now take your level and level the wood stud and fasten at the top in the same manner and this time fasten on both sides.

Now take your prefab door and measure the width of the top from outside to outside of the jam and cut a 2x4 wood stud exactly the same width and place it on top of your door jam right in the middle so you have a 1/2 inch on either side the 2x4. Take 2 inch wood screws and fasten  from the top of the 2x4 down into your door jam, so now you have a wood stud fastened to the top of your door. The reason for doing this first is some older homes do not have the ceiling height to allow you to do this latter and even if you do this way still works great. Now place a piece of 1/2 inch wood or drywall on the floor of the door opening so it keeps your door frame up for your carpet, tile or wood flooring installation later. Put the hinge side of your door against the wood stud you installed and fasten through the stud into your door frame this is why you kept the studs back from the door opening so you .would have room to work, now cut a nice straight wood stud for the other side of your door and push it up tight against the other side of your door jam and fasten in the same manner as the other side. Finally fasten your vertical wood studs into the the wood stud you fasten on top of your door using woods screws. You now have a perfectly level installed door just repeat for remaining doors and soon your metal stud framing will be ready for your drywall installation.