On Sep 23, 11:09*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 23 Sep 2009 wrote:
On Sep 22, 12:52*pm, Bryan Scholtes wrote:

I would suggest you either go all wood or all steel. *The main
benefits of steel framing; straighter members, bug & rot free (but
they can rust) & more price stablity than timber. But with prices down
on timber I really don't the advantage since timber framing is quite a
bit easier for most of us. *Stud too long, skilsaw or chop saw.
Nailed framing is faster & easier than screwed together framing.

I suppose I am trying to avoid the hassle of building a wall on the
floor, then hoisting it up, and installing a header and/or shimming.

Is there less labor in that than I am assuming?

It seems nice to be able to throw up some metal top & bottom and cut
studs to fit. Am I "smoking the weed"?

Nothing stopping you from doing the same with all wood.
Puit your sill-plate and header in place, cut studs to fit, and screw
together toe-nail style with deck screws.
Fast, easy, and solid.

The OP asked if what he intended with the metal track and wood studs
makes sense. I do it for a living so I figured I'd tell him it does.
Your way, while standard for some, is also a lot slower with little
benefit. If you're building a bearing wall, you want tight, if it's a
partition you don't need, or necessarily want, tight. As Tony was
pointing out, building an inadvertent bearing wall might not be the
best idea. Using the metal track allows gang cutting of studs and
then just snapping them into place between the two tracks.

If you are, it isn't the good stuff because you're still making sense.

My standard operating procedure for basement partitioning is to use a
PT bottom plate with metal track on top of it and a metal top track at
the ceiling joists. *I install the top track first, plumb down to
locate the bottom plate, shoot in (or Tapcon) the PT plate to the
slab, then attach the metal track on top. *Cut the wood studs about
1/4" short of a tight fit between the tracks, then slip the studs into
place.

I put a strip of DriCore down under the sill plate - no pressure
treated lumber inside my house.

To each his own - my point was to use something that is rot and insect
resistant. Cedar would also work. I don't know that I follow you
comment - you cut up the 2' squares to make 3.5" strips? Do you mean
that you install your partitioning on top of a DriCore (sub)floor?

R