Building a wall in the basement

[Andy Henriksen]

I intend to wall off the laundry area of my basement, but the only floor drain is in this area. Does it make sense to leave a little gap under the wall (shimmed up a half inch or so), so that if I ever flood in the other part of the basement, it can flow unfettered under the wall and to the drain, rather than damming up behind it?

Mind you, flooding risk is quite low, but was just thinking of the worst case scenario. Maybe this is a bit paranoid/unneccesary. Thoughts?

[David Wilson]

A few years ago we remodeled our basement which involved putting up a wall. I used a treated 2x4 for the plate and routed 3/4" slots in the bottom of the plate. 1 slot about every foot. I then used 1/2" treated plywood for the bottom foot of the wall. Left about 3/4" gap between the floor ant the bottom of the ply. Used 1/2" sheetrock for the remainder of the wall. We have had a flood since which resulted in about 4" of water in the basement. Was abel to squeege water under the wall with no problems.
Forgot to mention that I used plastic molding for the base and left about 1/4" between the floor and the bottom of the molding.

Hope this helps.

[Bob Winkler]

Both Lowes and HD each sell a subfloor with plastic drain channels underneath. The neat thing is that partition walls can be built right on top.

Here's a link to the Lowes version:

http://www.subflor.com/

The HD version is called Dricore. Google it for more info.

Bob

[Andy Henriksen]

thanks for the ideas guys. I'll probably do something like David's described. I like the fancy sub floor idea, but it would put me way over budget (my budget is approximately $0.00)

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I did mine by setting sealed bricks on the floor with the bottom plate setting on the bricks, then brought the finish trim down to within 1/4" of the floor. Water moves without wetting wall and I get some air flow throughout the basement. Very low cost.

Bruce