Building components · Frame Members

Partition Track

Explains the track as the element that decides where a partition is and what holds it, as distinct from the studs it receives and from the plate a timber wall is built off.

Form:Linear memberRoles:SupportAttachmentStructure

Educational reference entry. What this element has to do, and whether any particular arrangement of it is adequate, depends on the whole assembly, the loading, the exposure, local requirements, the manufacturer's instructions and qualified professional design.

Overview

What a track is

A partition track is the channel-shaped length fixed along the floor and along the soffit or head of a framed partition, into which the vertical studs are set. The studs stand within it and are located laterally by its legs. The track itself is fixed to the structure, so it is the track rather than the studs that establishes where the partition runs and what it is attached to.

That makes it the partition's setting-out and its connection to the building at once. A line marked on the floor becomes the track, the track becomes the wall, and any error in it is built into every stud above. Lateral forces on the partition, and the restraint each stud relies on at its ends, are delivered through the track into the floor below and the structure above.

Boundaries

How it differs from nearby elements

The distinctions that keep this entry from being a restatement of its neighbours.

It is not a wall stud. The stud is the vertical member carrying the lining; the track is the horizontal channel at head and base that receives it. The two are commonly conflated because the framing as a whole is loosely called studwork.
It is not a sole plate. A sole plate is the timber member a stud wall is built off and fixed onto; a track is the channel the studs stand within, and it holds them laterally in a way a flat plate does not.
It is not a deflection head. A deflection head is a head track arranged so the structure above can move without loading the partition; an ordinary track fixes the partition to whatever it is attached to and is meant to stay put.

Terminology

Common names and aliases

These names describe the same element. The library keeps one entry per component so that a trade term or a regional name never becomes a second, thinner page.

head and base track
floor and ceiling channel
runner channel
u-track

Dependencies

What it depends on

What has to be right elsewhere for this element to do its job.

What it is fixed to, since the track delivers everything the partition receives into the floor below and the structure above.
The accuracy of the line it is set to, because a partition is only as straight and as plumb as its two tracks allow it to be.
The condition of the floor and soffit surfaces along its length, since a track bridging a hollow or a change of level does not bear as the arrangement assumes.
Whether the head has to accommodate movement, which changes what the head track is and how the studs sit within it.

Considerations

Topics that genuinely apply here

Subjects worth discussing about this element. These are discussion topics, never measured values, ratings or performance claims.

Tolerance & fit

The track is where a partition's position is decided, and deviation here is not recoverable anywhere further up the wall.

Structural transfer

Lateral load on a partition, and the restraint at each end of every stud, is delivered through the track into the structure it is fixed to.

Acoustic

Where a partition separates, the track is a rigid line of contact between the wall and the structure, and how it is bedded, sealed or isolated is part of what the partition achieves.

Fire

Where a partition is fire-separating, its perimeter — the track line and its seal included — is part of the tested construction rather than an incidental junction.

Materials

Commonly formed from

Material families this element is commonly realised in. This states common practice only — it is not a statement that any of these materials suits this component in a particular building, which depends on the whole assembly and on qualified review.

Materials LibraryDrylining Framing →Head and base tracks are part of the published metal framing material entry and are the form most commonly met.Materials LibraryLight gauge steel framing →Structural light steel sections are used where the partition also has a loadbearing or a full-height function.Materials LibraryGalvanised steel →The sections are commonly galvanised, since the base track sits at floor level where it may be wetted during construction.

Assemblies

Building systems this element is met in

The role this component fills inside each assembly. A role describes what the element does there — it is not a statement that this component suits that system in any particular building.

Primary supportEdge and terminationFramed Partition →Locates the studs and fixes the partition to the floor below and the structure above.Primary supportWall Lining →Where a lining is framed rather than fixed directly to the wall, the track is what sets that framing out and holds it.Primary supportEdge and terminationShaft Wall →The perimeter of a shaft wall, where the wall is attached and where its separation has to be completed.Edge and terminationGlazed Partition →The head and base channels that receive and locate a glazed partition occupy the same position and do the same positional job.Edge and terminationSeparating Wall →The junction between a separating wall and the structure it is fixed to, which is one of the paths sound can take around it.

Related elements

Neighbouring components

Typed relationships to other elements. There is deliberately no generic “related” category: an edge that cannot be classified does not exist.

Narrower forms of this element

Frame MembersDeflection Head →The head track of a partition narrowed to the case where the structure above has to be free to deflect: the same position, with a vertical movement allowance that an ordinary head track does not provide.

Met at the same decision as

Frame MembersSole Plate →The same position at the base of a framed wall, occupied in one case by a timber plate the studs are fixed onto and in the other by a channel the studs stand within; a reader deciding how a wall is framed meets both at once.

Clarifications

Commonly misunderstood

That the track is simply a guide for setting out. It is the partition's fixing to the building and the lateral restraint at both ends of every stud in it.
That head and base tracks are interchangeable. They are not always the same element, and a head required to accommodate movement is a different arrangement altogether.

Conversations

Questions for qualified professionals

Questions worth asking someone with the project in front of them. This page cannot answer them.

What is the track fixed to at head and base, and can those surfaces take what the partition delivers into them?
Is the head track an ordinary track or a deflection head, and what does the structure above require?
Where this partition separates in fire or acoustic terms, how is the track line sealed?
How has the track been set out, and against what datum?

Go deeper

Related Build Design Hub guides

Planning guidance behind the decisions this element involves.

Preparation

Related planning checklists

Owner-side preparation before the conversation where this element comes up.

What this entry does not do

This entry describes a position in a partition. It states no section, gauge, fixing type, fixing spacing or rating, and none can be inferred from it.
Fixings into a floor or soffit, and the perimeter sealing of separating partitions, are determined for the building by its design team rather than by a general description.

Structural Frame Members

The columns, beams, joists, rafters, plates and bracing that make up a load-carrying frame, identified by the position each occupies.

Browse all frame members entries →

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