Good Afternoon guys…
I have been doing a lot of inspections on new builds lately and I’ve seen a lot of this lately. Because the form boards weren’t square when the foundations was poured, I see a lot of gaps between the fiber cement board and the foundation. How do you all write this up?
Thank you
The gap should be there on the starter row. In fact, it should have some openings as part of the install to allow water to drain.
You don’t. It is common for a new foundation to be slightly out of square and slightly bowed in or out. The builder will snap parallel straight lines on the front and back foundation walls and 90-degree lines on the foundation end walls, floating the floor structure over the foundation.
I appreciate the answers… how do we keep the critters out with such big gaps?
What kind of critters are you thinking of? And where do you think they will go?
Remember it’s just a wall covering material. There’s sheathing and house wrap under the siding.
I step on them when they come in. LOL
Sorry, couldn’t resist. 
You can recommend anything you want e.g. “I recommend caulking gaps between the sheathing and foundation to keep the insects out.”
Gap is part of the drain plane, you do not seal it. The starter strip starts the proper angle for the rest of the courses for a better lap.
