Capillary Break on Walked Down Basement Walls
I have a walkout basement with stepped down basement walls (concrete 8′ height walls steps down to 0′ by the back walk-out wall that will be 100% wood framed). So my question is about whether or not I should add a sill seal like material between my pony walls and the concrete basement walls. I plan to use pressure treated lumber on any framing that comes in contact with concrete but since we put a sill seal/gasket under sill plates, wouldn’t it follow that we would want to run that down the wall as well? Thanks for the clarification!
Replies
Yes it’s a good idea b/c the concrete will condense at some point. Honestly, many framers do not install and I’ve actually never seen it lead to any problems (been building for over 20 yrs). That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised to look on a moisture meter and see higher level w/out the sill seal.