Help needed with 6" steel I beam in basement

Hey all - I'm hoping that some of you might have had the same issues with basement design and construction. I have two 6" steel I beams that run the width of my space. My present design calls for walls to hide those, with 2 X 6 construction. My question is how to attach the studs to the bottom of the I beam, and how to build up the sides of the beam so that I can attach drywall to the studs (and the sides of the beam). I'm attaching a plan and a pic of the beam. Any help would be appreciated. This forum rocks!! Jim

If they are iso walls, possibly a sway bracket. But Steve knows best. http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... 0176#10176 fitZ

Gimme a couple more days, I got stuck covering 2 extra 12-hour night shifts... Steve

Sorry for the delay, see if this answers your questions - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=18741 HTH... Steve

Jim Usual method for attaching to the steel is to shoot into it w/ powder-actuated fasteners. Get someone experienced to help if you haven't used one; it's kinda thrilling to fire a .27 caliber blank gun into a steel beam. If you can't find help with that, you might be able to do what we call "spider-nailling" to the bottom flange; drive 12d framing nails every 3-4 feet into the top corners of the top plate (about 3/4-1" deep), then put construction adhesive on the top surface of the plate, hold it to the bottom of the beam, then bend the nails around the beam flange to hold it. Your plate will need to be close to the same width as the beam to work, and this won't give any withdrawal strength, but it is enough to use as a top plate for a partition under the beam. Let the adhesive dry a day or two before you pound on it when building the partition. Frank

Good idea, Frank; but WTF is a .27 caliber ramset? I've used .22 and .38, didn't know they came in some oddball though... Steve

I had never heard of it either, but after googling it, it seems that the .27 caliber size is the most common load for semi-automatic hammers.

Here's what I did covering up my beam: