Can a Pony Wall Be Used to Raise the Exterior Wall Height?

Pony Wall

• A pony wall is a partial wall or one that rises only a portion of the distance between the floor and the ceiling. Pony walls appear in interior environments as divisions between rooms. This provides for the clear demarcation of space while making interiors seem more spacious by not completely blocking visibility from one room to the next. Functionally, pony walls help secure elements, such as island cabinets or household electrical and plumbing systems. Pony walls also appear in exterior environments between foundations and the first floor of a building or within frame structures.

Raising the Height

• Pony walls often serve the function of raising the exterior walls of a building by providing extra height to the foundation. Builders use pony walls made of wood to create a barrier between the foundation of a home and the first floor of the building. Wood costs less to purchase and install than masonry materials or concrete; so using pony walls between the foundation and the first floor of a home provides an inexpensive way to extend the foundation of a home.

Pony Wall Limitations

• Pony walls present a series of limitations when it comes to using them to raise the height of the exterior walls of a building. You must install a pony wall directly above the foundation in order to use it to raise the building height. This requires tearing the building down to its foundation or removing it from its foundation, installing a pony wall then reconstructing the building. If you install a pony wall during the initial construction, always take into account how much weight the pony wall can safely sustain before building a house on top of it.

Inserting a Pony Wall

• You can insert pony walls into the beam structure of a wood frame house as another means of raising the height of walls. However, this requires taking a building apart completely if it already exists. If you build a new home, you can work pony walls into the building plan, though this requires knowledge of architecture or engineering. Keep in mind that raising the height of exterior walls also requires raising the height of interior elements of a home; otherwise, elements, such as doors and windows, won’t properly line up with floors and interior walls.