Stabilizing a Knee Wall

My neighbor's house (exactly the same as mine) had cut out a large space between the kitchen and the dining room creating a knee wall. It's not super stable but you can lean on it and it feels pretty solid; I just wouldn't run into it.

So I cut mine out the same way and I'm wondering if I can do anything to stabilize it? I will be cladding the exposed areas and adding a fat 1x6 (5/4) to as a sill, and that will probably be OK. But is there anything I can do to stabilize it further?

I thought about screwing some foot-long bolts into the bottom frame inside the wall and pouring about 6" of concrete in there, but I have no idea if that will do anything...

Any other suggestions? Tks

P.S. The wall is still solid on the side just past the picture. The knee wall runs 5' 6".

I'd put some steel on the unfixed end and tie it into the joists below. Add blocking between the adjacent joists to help prevent the joist from twisting. Use lag bolts or screws as opposed to nails to (re)attach the existing structure to the floor. Nails tend to pull out and are better in sheer than tension.

I don't think the concrete is going to help. I would put the bolts in though. Is it very solidly bolted to the adjacent wall? Have you considered imbedding a post in the concrete at the edge of the wall. I think that would provide the most lateral support you can get.

Do you follow the post idea?

Tom

What would work well is to run one of the posts through the floor and bolt it along the joist below. If you can do that near the end and maybe again in the middle, then run some diagonal braces, or maybe add a layer of plywood screwd and glued to the studs/posts, then a veneer of drywall. The ply would really stiffen it up that way, too.

Install a cap on the top of the wall, such as a 2x4 or whatever is the same size as the studs, and then run threaded rods through that cap and down to a secure place below. You can get long threaded rods in the electrical department at HD. You should put one rod at the end of the wall and other near the first stud from the end.

When you pull those rods down tightly it will compress the whole stack and stiffen it significantly. It looks like you have a large space between the first stud after the end and the one after that. The spacing should be no more than 16" in your application.

If you could run the end post from floor to ceiling framing it would make the whole thing a lot stiffer. It should not have a joint between floor and ceiling so you would have to replace the short end post.

Bob,

That is a lot of work but I like the idea. I will store that one away for a rainy day.

Thanks

Tom