Question:
Firstly, thanks for doing this. You’re a good person for sharing your expertise.
I’m buying a production home from a builder in CA. There’s a pressure treated sole plate on slab about 18” long that is split completely down the length. Now there are two anchor rods coming up through this sole plate with plate washers at bolts securing it down. On the outside of each anchor rod is a tension tie screwed into a stud and the sole plate. This is a load bearing section between the 16’ and 8’ garage door openings.
The construction manager saw this and thought it would be caught by an inspector, but it doesn’t appear so. Let me know if I can email you a picture. I would like to know if this is OK and if so, if I should squirt something in the split to keep it from rotting. Thank you.
Answer:
It is difficult for me to make anytype of judgement on this split sole plate that would go against any inspector’s analysis. Commonly this situation occurs, however being in CA your building code requirements are off the charts. Yes, you could install an adhesive to fill the split and I am sure you would be fine, once again, if the inspector doesn’t agree there is not much else we can do but either mechanically drill fasteners to compress the slit or replace the sill plate.