Jon's Basement build.....beefing/cross bridging?

Hey everyone. Here it goes. The pharmacist tries to build a studio in his basement. I hope to supply a lengthy and picture-laden account of my attempt at my 2 room basement studio. I plan to finish in the next....oh...decade or so. My fist post was here with all the pertinent info. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11629&hilit=jlehan. My most current design of my control room/vocal and guitar booth studio is here: http://www.box.net/shared/8s1efzz2jo I hopefully will be getting in touch with Mr. Sayers for some professional advice soon. The structural engineer has ok'd the weight to the ceiling above. So its time to START BEEFING UP between the floor joists. There are nails sticking out/staples from the floor above, but I know closed cell foam will do the trick. (thanks forum). I've got Rod's book. Ive read a million posts on here. I've got my backer rod. I've got my green glue. I have the 5/8ths dry wall. I'm ready to do something besides count pills! So......first obstacle in the "beefing process" The cross bridging! Rod's book points out that it can be removed during the beefing process, then reattached afterwords. I don't know a darn thing about construction. So, I have been looking at how to install bridging on the net. Its mostly attached during construction, before the subfloor is installed. Does anyone have experience removing it then reattaching it after the beefing process is over? Any help appreciated!!! I can't quite figure out how to properly nail in the top end of the cross bridging pieces. Thanks in advance!!!

There are nails sticking out/staples from the floor above, but I know closed cell foam will do the trick. (thanks forum).

I searched around and couldn't find what you were referring to.. I've got the same issue - can you point me to the fix? Thanks!

There are nails sticking out/staples from the floor above, but I know closed cell foam will do the trick. (thanks forum).

I'm just wondering about that comment: What "trick" will closed-cell foam do for nails and staples? I can't think of many acoustical uses for closed-cell foam at all, and I don't think it would do you any good to spray closed-cell foam up there below the sub floor, and then try to beef up your floor below the foam. I may be wrong, but I suspect that dong that could create a third leaf, but in any event, AFAIK you should keep your "beef" in direct mechanical contact with your sub-floor. - Stuart -

Sure guys.....this is taken from things Mr. Gervais had written... First he said that cutting the nails is a bad idea...it can cause failure of floor/framing above. He said he uses the cheap white closed-cell foam, cuts it into strips, and covers the things sticking out then beefs over the top. Here's the link. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... hilit=foam Hope that helps! Jon

I get it.. no 'acoustical' benefit - but it gives you a layer to avoid the nails, etc.. and not create a third leaf. Actually - in my case that may make my life a lot easier.. as I have I-beam joists, and have been trying to figure the easiest way to cleat in the drywall up between the joists.. the closed-cell foam would eliminate that issue. Thanks for that!

Yeah....basically just reduces your clearance in the joist bays by an inch. I priced it out at Menards here, it wasn't very expensive.

can you post a link to the material you used? I just looked, and it was about $10 for a 4x8 sheet of 3/4" at Lowes - I suspect there are cheaper options.

I am thinking that replacing the diagonal bracing with solid blocking would be of more benefit to you jlehan. Diagonal is tedious, old hat and can be updated by installing 2 X lumber with something that measures the height of your joist area. Then you can nail or screw into the joist > to the blocks, offsetting the blocks from your existing bracing center line, as you replace them to allow unrestricted nailing.

Biggator....I think I got them at Menards here for about 7/sheet. There are two kinds i guess....white styrofoam-like sheets (cheaper) and pink (extruded?). I bought some of each...the extruded version comes in 1/2 inch sheets which is suficient to cover the staples in parts of my floor. The thicker white for were there are nails coming through. Xspace....I was wondering about the cross-bridging since that is what Rod recommends in his book. It allows a higher ceiling high for the inner room and space for duct runs between joists. If I can do cross bridging, I will. If its impossible, I wont. Upon further examination of his book, I noticed the cross bridging is connect to the strips used to hold up the drywall hard to the subfloor. I guess I could nail the top end of the bridgin to the strip prior to fastening the strip to the floor joist? Thanks for the input folks!

Biggator....I think I got them at Menards here for about 7/sheet. There are two kinds i guess....white styrofoam-like sheets (cheaper) and pink (extruded?). I bought some of each...the extruded version comes in 1/2 inch sheets which is suficient to cover the staples in parts of my floor. The thicker white for were there are nails coming through.

Thanks - we don't have Menards around here (that I know of). I actually would want a total of 1 1/2" of foam to fill up the depth of the stringers on my joists (mine are I-beam style).. that would make cleating in the drywall MUCH easier.

yeah increased thickness drove the price up i think. do you have any cross-bridging to replace?

No cross-bridging whatsoever.. my joists are I-beam style see this thread for a picture: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11710 So - my original question was 'how do I cleat in the layers of drywall'.. since the i-beams aren't a normal straight 2x10 style joist.. the picture will make more sense.

jlehan wrote:

Xspace....I was wondering about the cross-bridging since that is what Rod recommends in his book. It allows a higher ceiling high for the inner room and space for duct runs between joists. If I can do cross bridging, I will. If its impossible, I wont.

I went back and looked at your build in the links you provided, I had forgotten that you were in a basement and needed to maintain as much vertical distance as possible. There is no easy way to do this type of bracing, on a re-install. The one main thing that I would mention is to not take out anymore[bracing] than you can replace within your working time, if this isn't already advised in Rod's book. He may have covered this, I cannot remember.

xspace, thanks for the advice. In the book rod simply says, remove the bracing, beef up the subfloor, then make sure you reinstall it. Details and/or level of difficulty weren't really mentioned. I don't know much about construction, but looking at the bridinging in the basement it seemed pretty obvious it wouldn't be easy. Especially since the nails on the top part of each brace are driving downwards, which is impossible since the floor is there. Thanks again.....