|
Hi Bob, About thirty years ago I bought a house in King County, just few blocks outside the Seattle city limits. The lending bank's pest control inspector okayed a situation where the seller had put corrugated fiberglass against the house to berm up the landscaping soil above the top of the concrete foundation. (I thought it was bogus and later added three courses of concrete block to the top of the foundation, but that's neither here nor there.) Another time, when I should have known better, I framed several walls in a basement without using pressure treated lumber for the sole plates. The Seattle building inspector must have had a soft spot for hard working fools because he told me that I didn't have to tear it out and do it right if I could get galvanized flashing metal under it. Using house jacks and wedges, my Vietnamese foster son and I got metal under the walls at only about three times the effort of doing it over. There was a happy ending though. That and a few other of my labor intensive projects convinced my foster son to get a good education so he would never have to do that kind of work. He went on to become an aeronautical engineer. So metal is a possibility. I'd say you'd want a bit of standoff like you'd get from corrugated fiberglass or corrugated galvanized metal, or something with at least a small amount of insulative value to reduce the likelihood of a condensation problem. I don't know what the current code is for concrete slabs under living space but years ago it used to call for a certain R value of insulative foam beneath the pour. So foam is another material you might use, except that most foams are subject to insect damage; even if you could cover the exposed top edge, the foam against the sills wouldn't be likely to be insect proof. Another type of product I've used in somewhat similar circumstances is asphalt impregnated material, leftover three tab roofing in one case, but 90# rolled roofing or shake felt would work too. Best of luck, Stan
|