caulking the sill plate

[Andrew Thuswaldner]

I have replaced the rotten sill plate in my garage stud wall and re-sheathed and sided the outside walls. Soon I will start to install the insulation and vapor barrier. Should I caulk where the sill plate meets the concrete floor? If you think so please tell me why. thanks, Andrew

[John Coloccia]

There's a foam product that you can put down between the wood and the concrete (I'm assuming you used pressure treated). I just know it as sill seal and everyone knows what I'm talking about, but I'm sure it has an official trade name. Anyhow, I don't know what you're building codes are like, but some locales around here actually require that, or so I'm told by my inspector. It's a good idea regardless, though. It will seal the space under the sill and prevent drafts, etc. It's also never a bad idea to get wood off the concrete, even if it's just a centimeter or so, and even if it's PT.

For DIY work like this, it's almost always a good idea to talk to your inspector and just ask him how he'd like to see it done. I did that a couple of times with mine, he told me exactly how he wanted to see things, and I got it done right the first time. Final inspection took a few minutes, 0 problems to fix.

Just my opinion and I'm not a general contractor, but I thought it was a great product.

[James Stokes]

All exterior walls need to be calked, In New Mexico it was code But here in Missouri pretty much any thing will pass here.