Sill Plate Question

tkmb25

Hi,

I am new to the forum. Thanks in advance for reading my post. I am in the process of selling my townhome. It is one of the INTERIOR units in a four-unit building. Each unit is two floors constructed over a basement. The basement is poured in-place. The property was constructed 5 years ago by a national home builder. I haven't had any problems. I just went through a home inspection and the buyer's inspector claims the home is not attached properly to the foundation.

My basement is finished except in one small corner where the mechanicals are located. In this area, the inspector observed the sill plate to an interior demising wall between me and another unit and the sill plate to the back wall of my garage (each unit has a two car garage) and house.

At these locations there are J bolts, but not nuts or washers. My question: in townhome/condominium construction is it required that anchors bolts be used at these locations? My sill plate appears to be a 2 x 4 and on top of the sill plate sits engineered wood I-beams that are what I think you call joists.

My home is under warranty and the home builder is reviewing the matter with the original architect. I just thought that I'd try do some of my own research. Any responses will be appreciated. Thank you. I apologize if I did not do a good job explaining the problem.

DeeTee

It could be that the washers and bolts were left off and no one caught it. That doesn't necessarily mean the building will fall off the foundation though but inspection companies are going to insure it and so they minimize their risk. That also doesn't mean that a washer and bolt couldn't be put in place now and fix the problem, but of course that assumes things haven't changed since the sill plate was put in place. Since the builder and architect are handling it then they probably have the best info on all of that so hopefully they will step up and take care of it.

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troubleseeker

If I understand this correctly, it sure seems like a lot of BS and finger pointing over nothing. How about the builder just going to the hardware store and buying $5 worth of washers and nuts, and putting them on. Issue solved I guess that is just too simple.

Whether you "need" anchor bolts there or not is a moot issue. The home inspector is going to note the j bolts as missing washers and nuts in his report.