I have a diagonal brace running across an interior wall in the basement, and it even goes partially into the floor concrete. Is this meant to be permanent, or was it supposed to be removed during construction?
I want to finish the basement and put drywall there, but this obviously gets in the way. What are my options for dealing with it?
(Click images for larger views.)
Nail locations. 3 nails into the beam at the top, 2 elsewhere:
Best Answer
That wall is load bearing; it is helping to support the stairs and that landing.
As such, it can be subjected to significant load (think two 250 lb guys, plus heavy furniture, for starters).
More importantly, it is subject to lateral impulses from people and things going up and down the stairs so it should have lateral/diagonal bracing to help stop "rhombusing".
Such bracing will give the stairs a solider feel and also reduce cracking/popping in the sheetrock.
There are a variety of metal bracing products you can use, but it would probably be sufficient, in this case, to nail 5/8's plywood to the backside of those studs (in addition to the sheetrock on the front side.
I'd also use some steel L-straps on the other 2 landing supports (if there's not already something there).