Room Additions in South Pasadena on Treated Sills
South Pasadena room additions framed with borate-treated lumber where wood meets concrete, on footings sized for the load. Aspenwell Construction.
Borate-treated lumber is what we specify for the sill plate and the lowest framing of a South Pasadena addition. The borate soaks into the wood fibers and makes them unappealing to termites and the fungi that cause rot, two threats that gather where a wood frame sits on concrete. On an inland lot, soil moisture and the odd hard storm keep that joint damp longer than the walls above it.
Where the treated wood goes
Any lumber that touches the new footing or the slab gets treatment: the mudsill, the blocking at the base of each wall and the rim joist if the room sits over a crawlspace. Anchor bolts pass through that sill into the concrete, so the treated piece is also the first link in the seismic load path. Cut ends get a brush coat of the same preservative, since sawing exposes untreated heartwood. Hardware touching treated stock is hot-dip galvanized or stainless, because some preservatives corrode plain steel. Studs higher in the wall can be standard framing lumber.
Keeping the base dry
Treatment slows decay. Drainage stops it. Soil outside the new walls is graded to fall away from the foundation, and the bottom of the stucco or siding ends above finished grade with a weep screed so trapped water can leave. A crawlspace under the room gets vents sized to its floor area and a vapor retarder on the soil. The building department sees the anchor bolts before the pour, then checks the treated sill and the clearances at the framing inspection. Those choices keep the treated wood working as intended across the life of the room.
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Room Additions in South Pasadena: questions
Only an engineer can say, after measuring the footing width and depth and reviewing the soil. A second floor brings its own walls, roof and people onto the original concrete. Where the numbers come up short, the drawings add new footing sections or posts with pads, and that work is built and inspected before any upper framing goes up.
At floor level, the new rim and joists bolt or hang from the old framing with the connectors the plans call out. Walls join with straps across the break, and the roofs meet over continuous sheathing with flashing lapped in the right order. Only the strip of old wall the tie-in needs is opened.
In many cases, yes, since a crawlspace already opened for the addition gives easy reach to the existing sill. Bolting it to the foundation and bracing any short walls under the floor can go into the same permit. That retrofit appears on its own line in the quote, separate from the new room.
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