How to Apply Sill Plates
- 1). Lay the sill gasket over the top of the concrete foundation. Cut to size and cut out holes for the bolts with a utility knife.
- 2). Measure the location of each bolt installed in the foundation wall. Bolts may be off-center from one another because of movement while the cement was setting, so you will need to measure both along the width and length of the wall to determine their locations.
- 3). Transfer the measurements onto a piece of two-by pressure-treated lumber. The width of the lumber will depend on the plans drawn up by your architect and code requirements.
- 4). Drill holes into the lumber that correspond with the bolt locations on the foundation. Make the holes slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt to accommodate for any bolt that might be angled.
- 5). Drop the plate over the top of the bolts so it is flush with the sill gasket and no daylight is seen between the foundation and the wood.
- 6). Repeat this process until the entire perimeter has a sill plate in place. Toe nail the plates where they meet at the corners and check for square.
- 7). Shift the lumber as necessary to make the frame as square as possible. Check for square using the Pythagorean theorem. Make two measurements from each corner, three feet along one wall and four feet along the other. Connect the dots from those measurements and you should have five feet.
- 8). Place a washer and a nut over each bolt and tighten by hand.
- 9). Install the rim joist and floor joists then tighten the nuts firmly with a socket wrench.
