1960 house foundation - sill plate (Hickory: houses, inspector, live in)

[Tito Monel]

Was there any requirement to install a sill plate in the 1960s.

[Hickory patrick]

building code was very loose back then if their was any, I think....my last house was built early 60s and had zero insulation in the external wall cavity's= just open space...

the house I now live in and rehab-ed is a 3 story cape built in 1962... and when i was opening the basement walls I found one heck of a shock...One of the center weight bearing walls that supports the 2 floors above had no base plate''' they just stood the wall studs on the concrete floor as the concrete as it was setting up n hardening... no plate.... the 2 studs on one end by my basement garage door weren't even touching the floor, they had been chewed away from insects and just soft rot from all the years....


I ended up cutting up 2x4"s to fit tight between the studs on the floor then standing studs on these mini plates and hipping it all to the existing studs, so some are 3 studs wide= 1 on each side of the old existing studs making them 3 wide, wicked strong now,

[danielbmartin]

Originally Posted by Hickory patrick

... and when i was opening the basement walls I found one heck of a shock...One of the center weight bearing walls that supports the 2 floors above had no base plate''' they just stood the wall studs on the concrete floor as the concrete as it was setting up n hardening... no plate....

Code or no code, this level of workmanship is somewhere between criminally negligent and insane. Good that you found it and fixed it.

.

[luv4horses]

I contracted on a house of that era and the inspector was shocked to find there was no sill plate. He said that code did not require it back then, but it was so obviously needed that no one thought to write it into the requirements. Even so, the house had been standing perfectly well for 40 years.

[sacredgrooves]

The only absolutely correct answer would come from the code enforcement officials for whatever city/county the house is in. I see joists bearing directly on masonry foundations in older houses from time to time though. The practical answer may differ from the technically correct answer however.

If there are no signs of it causing I problem I would not worry much about it, from a "practical standpoint".