Framing is the boards that go one the wall behind the sheetrock and what holds the wires, insualtion and house all together. In the basement there are options to how much of an extent you want to go with it. When it comes to size of the studs and spacing there options.
For the studs (verticals) You can use a 2x2, 2x3, or 2x4; if you choose to use a 2x2, you can secure them straight to the wall, with anchors, obviously anchors that go below the surface of the wood allowing you to secure the Sheetrock without interference. This method would also allow you to do without a sill (board running across the top or bottom) but not very well recommended. Otherwise you can create a standard 2x3 or 2x4 wall and secure them in place. As for the sill; in a basement it is always a good idea to use pressure treated wood for the sill that is on the floor. Pressure treated wood is water and mold resistant, not proof, just resistant. The bottom board is the one that is pressure treated see the difference?
On the spacing... there are two options 16" and 24" optimally, This means the space from edge to edge is 16"s or 24". Really there is little advantage to doing a 24" spacing on studs; usually 24" is saved for garages and basements and that's it. It is less load bearing but the advantage is that if you have a very very large basement it will save you a couple of bucks. But when you think about it a 30 x10 room would require 65 studs on 16" spacing and 43 when on 24". So it does make a bit of a difference if cost is a big thing. The only big disadvantage is that if you 24" spacing, that means there is an extra 8" between studs and therefore the Sheetrock over it will be more likely to crack when force is put on it. So if you have small children or plan on them... with there rough and tumble and pushing one another into the wall; 16" spacing may be worth the extra 40 dollars in studs.
I ended up using 2x3 for the reasons that they were a hair cheaper than 2x4's, give me an extra inch or two on the room and it is just enough to be able to fit a normal sized electrical box in the wall.
While or before getting in too deep with framing up, you need to have a layout. If it comes down to a big square room, then there is not much to do. If you have a dividing wall however, you will need to lay it out before you put it up. I used string and a sharpie to start with the layout of the dividing wall since you can't guarantee that any of the basement walls are level you have to do your best to get your wall straight and true.
If you are short a level, and all all you have is a pen and a tape measure... that's all you need. Measure on 1 board 3 feet and mark it then measure the other way at 90ยบ and mark 4 feet. Once those are done, the distance in between should be 5 feet. if not. Adjust which ever wall is still movable and that will put it in square... this works vertically and horizontally.
I had to use this method to set up our closet that was to go into the office/ bedroom. This wall was to be dividing up the big room so we have a smaller room on one end. The only bad thing that made it difficult was that I had to work around a water shut off valve. My personal preference is that I can be able to turn a wrench on the pipe in the wall; nothing is more frustrating then a homeowner building something around an important pipe or wire that now has no access. So our closest is a little extra deep, but worth it if I ever need to be taking the water pipe apart.
That concludes Basements 102... but there is more to come (when I get more photos) and we can go over FireBlockers and Egress windows and touch on insulation.
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