good or bad thing, interior new wall building question (1 Viewer)

[TonyD]

ok so im rebuilding the walls in my basement and it is half underground.
so i have a short wall to ground level that is concrete(foundation).
but when they built the wall above it instead of coming out to the top of the concrete there is a small 5 inch "shelf" built in to the middle of the wall.

my plan is to build the wall straight up without the shelf.
but doing this i will have a 5-6 " space area between the old wall and the new wall above the foundation concrete wall.

there is what appears to be drywall, and 3.5 in thick fiberglass insallation on that top part.

so my question is.
am i supposed to fill that space between the old wall and the new wall or is it ok to leave that an empty area?

i plan on doing a 6" staggered stud wall with drywall on the inside(closest to the old wall) and double on the outside using probably some sound board or double drywall.

thanks for the help.

 

[Jim_Ski]

you can probably leave the 'old' wall as-is and build over it, leaving the gap. Just don't have two vapor barriers, so if there's already one up behind the existing drywall leave it and build out. You may want to fill it with some insulation to deaden the space, but I'm not expert in that area.

You can also leave the shelf/ledge and utilize it, rather than waste the space. I, too, have a 'look out' basement with a block knee-wall.

I used it to my advantage and built a 'fake' knee-wall to complement a real one to make up my front wall (where the TV sits)

have a peek:
http://johnskiwevner.com/gallery/Home-Theater

-jim

 

[TonyD]

thanks for the advice john.
i dont like the ledge so thats why i'm getting rid of it.

 

[KenA]

How about building some recessed shelves over that space for your DVD collection?