Framing a Pony Wall


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Go to solution Solved by CJSpud,

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Im having issues displaying the framing I need for a pony wall. The house is starting off with a standard 8 ft ceiling height and will need to go up to 10ft as an addition is added upstairs. So I need the existing top plate to be married to the pony wall to raise the total height the two feet. The problem I'm having is that I cant get that to display in the framing model. I have the wall types all set as pony walls but when it builds the framing it just shows it as a single standard wall. Any guidance?

 

-Newb using X8

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Sounds like the pony wall may not be necessary and you need to add a second floor.  Pony walls are used when there is a change of structure within the same floor.  So you would have 8' existing wall and new knee wall to get to 10' for a 1 1/2 story addition.  Normally there would be a floor separating the walls? If that is what you are after then it should frame ok.    If not post the plan and there are always plenty of people willing to help.

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The first floor is being raised the two feet, because they want ten foot ceilings on the first floor. then the platform for the second floor. So I need to know how to display that additional two feet. So youd have the top plate of the original wall. Then the base plate, studs and top plate of the pony wall on top of that. Right now its only displaying the new wall as a single unit of plates and studs.

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Ok now I understand what you need but am not sure if chief will do that for you or not. Pony wall would be my first logical choice but if that is not working you may have to manually add the three plates to the Wall Detail after you let Chief frame it. This is not too difficult as it is just basic cad work to copy a top plate and duplicate it at the right height. Cut your studs and rejoin to new plates.

 

There may be a way to add an extra floor and delete the floor framing and baseboard of the extra floor an then also delete the ceiling of the existing floor level but I can't quite get it to frame properly yet. I have the correct number of plates but some strange gap that is not working. Do you care to share your plan file?

 

Yes I believe it can be done that way. And will give you more control of you Construction Drawings.

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I tried to make the second wall with the studs for the second wall as red and even at a different spacing and I could not get the pony wall.  The only way I could do it is if the studs were a different depth,  a different width of studs did  not help.

 

 

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Taking Sherry's lead, I created a 4-sided model with 2x6 framed walls, 109-1/8" tall.  Framed all 4 walls and locked their framing.  Then I created a new floor mirroring the 1st and in the Structure dbx I made the floor 24" tall and zeroed the floor system (framing & finished materials) as well as the ceiling drywall.  Then on Floor 2, I selected all 4 walls and framed them and got the results as show below.  I did not make the 2nd floor as "open below" and the results "seem" to be OK.

 

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Next, I built a 3rd floor, mirroring the first two floors and had to re-input the floor framing elements and the ceiling drywall in the structure dbx.  This is what it looks like with the walls and floor of the 3rd floor framed.

 

post-191-0-19889600-1477063030_thumb.jpg

 

Great suggestion Sherry.

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You guys can't really be suggesting that it is ok to build a wall 11' tall with a hinge point at 9'.  You might want to ask an engineer about that.  Forget about weather ca can do it.  Is it a good idea in the real world?

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What he wanted was 10' (I just used my default main level). My engineer has actually done this with bolted plates and 1/2" continuous plywood with a specified nailing pattern on both sides. I believe we also ran some lvl studs through at some of the larger openings. It was a while ago but the house is still standing and there have been no structural shifts or drywall cracking.

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You guys can't really be suggesting that it is ok to build a wall 11' tall with a hinge point at 9'.  You might want to ask an engineer about that.  Forget about weather ca can do it.  Is it a good idea in the real world?

 

I concur,  but an engineer can over rule me.

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I do not like the extra floor method........  or I would not do it because if the house is truly a 2 or 3 story,  this could complicate things.  If this is simply a one story,  I get it,  a good solution.......  however I would prefer to use the pony wall method.....  If I figure out a way,  I will post.....  in the meantime it seems like for this project the extra floor method will work.

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