Checking out a new construction crawlspace of a townhome and wondering if I’m mistakenly worried about the lack of visible attachment of the sill plate to the concrete foundation wall when viewing from the top of the plate.
I would expect to see bolts going into the concrete through the sill plate at least every 6 feet but I couldn’t see any at all throughout the span of the sill.
Is there something else with this construction that makes up for it?
Yes, you are correct to be concerned. What code is your state operating from?
Here is the link to the IRC 2018, but Colorado has something else going on, likely state amendments?
The anchor bolts are most likely under that first sole plate. Some drill a hole in the top plate to hide the anchor bolts of the first plate.
Looks like they then used the H-2.5 clips to nail them together.
I don’t know why they used two plates when one anchored properly is sufficient.
My first thought was to guess that they are under the second plate but obviously I can’t verify that. Yes, I also think it’s strange there are two plates…
Would you call it out and say that you were unable to verify proper attachment? If so, what level of defect would you rate that?
Unable to verify sill plate anchorage to the foundation at the box sill areas. Recommend a qualified building contractor to verify.
Can’t call it a defect under assumptions.
There is a way to verify, but that is beyond the standard of an HI.
I think that some framers countersink the anchor bolts of the first plate and then attach the second plate to that using common nails…
I agree, that is what I tried to explain above, but unless you can verify, you are guessing. Guessing on an in inspection report is bad news.
Agreed. This is one of those tough ones to me from a practical standpoint because you don’t want to raise alarm unnecessarily but i don’t know how easy or costly it would be to have verified by a specialist…
I get it from a liability standpoint but it’s still not an easy thing to categorize, IMHO.
Curious, do you use report software that requires you to categorize, blue, red, green, Etc?
Why must you categorize?
If I were in your shoes, I would pass this liability off to the buyer just as Marcel recommended.
I do a lot of new construction inspections and find these mud sill anchors almost everywhere. You will never see them from the interior if it only attaches to the sill plate.
Ah, that makes sense. I haven’t seen those anchors. So, you would just note that you’re unable to verify the connection, as well?
It’s very difficult to see unless you’re doing a pre-drywall inspection and the siding isn’t on the house yet. Otherwise you can stick your camera phone under the siding and inspect for these anchors.
Agreed, I have done this for many reasons, siding elevations, getting an adequate pitch on sewer lines, or getting an extra 1 1/2 of headroom in the basement if you want to hang a suspended ceiling, etc.
That would be typical for us up here Scott, but we don’t know where the OP is from in which case it could be like Martin posted too.
If that were the case, they would not have used the hurricane clips on the interior?
So, Jesse, where are you located? So we can educate ourselves.
Agree, those are throwing me off. Unless they installed them to hold the floor system down due to that additional plate. Don’t know.
It’s in his profile. Vail Colorado.
Mountains of colorado
Here I see a variety of strapping from the sill plate to the trusses.
