Sill Plate Video

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com. Today I want to talk about foundation sill plates. This is the first piece of lumber that is typically put on a masonry foundation. Here you can see it resting on top of the foundation wall.

The sill plate goes all around the foundation. And more importantly, this particular foundation changes height. Where the foundation wall goes down from one height to the other, there is a vertical sill plate. This keeps regular lumber away from the masonry. The sill plates are treated lumber that have chemicals in it to resist termite attacks.

Between the foundation and the sill plate, there is a foam layer. That foam is very important. You want to put that foam between the wood sill plate and the masonry foundation, both vertically and horizontally, along the whole foundation. This foam layer helps seal any air from leaking in between the wood and concrete. No matter how hard they try, the foundation contractors can't always get that foundation concrete perfectly smooth. Or the wood might even have a little warp in it.

But the point is, you need to seal that air to help reduce your energy usage. Seal that area to reduce drafts into your home. Sill plates are very important and need to be treated lumber.