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Girder air gap

ICE

MODERATOR
Staff member
Joined
Jun 23, 2011
Messages
13,891
Location
California
There is no gap. There is rubber. Do you make them fix it? eight times

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DSCN9029_zpscafc802d.jpg
 
Rider Rick said:
ICE,It will rot.

Someone will need to fix it later.
I'm not so sure about that. Here is an example that lasted 85 years.

I had pictures of decay free girders and posts that were embedded in concrete since way before you were born, but my computer died and those pictures are gone.

Perhaps the location has something to do with it. There is another thread that is about underfloor ventilation or the lack thereof. Everybody east of the Mississippi, and especially Pennsylvania, seem to have rotten, moldy, dank crawlspaces but here in so cal the crawls are trouble free.

Ask yourself:

Could this be one of those mistakes that you wish you had caught at footing inspection that will now be an extraordinary bitch to fix?

Having seen the fix in the past, did you think, "This is awful"?

Could this be a questionable code to begin with?

Does the bitch outweigh the code?

What about the rubber?

Does sixty mils of sticky rubber count for anything?

IMG_3297.jpg


I just noticed a ground joint union that was in the crawlspace....under stress....for 85 years
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tiger,

It's the roll of the dice.

I'm from LA and live here and I have found what you are saying is true but if it was my house I would fix it now because if it needs to be fix later it would be a bitch.

The house I built in 1985 and live in right now has a garage I wish I would of just put 6 mil under the slab but the word at the time was it wasn't needed because SoCal is so dry. The garage slab wicks up water and is wet when the living area slab with 6 mil under it is dry as a bone right next to the garage.
 
As long as the non-pt girder is not touching concrete at all, I'd say the 60 mil membrane is an approved alternate I this application and geographical location.
 
Fort said:
As long as the non-pt girder is not touching concrete at all, I'd say the 60 mil membrane is an approved alternate I this application and geographical location.
Time will tell.
 
I have dealt with the same exact condition as the photo in post #4 many times, both in an exterior foundation, and interior.

In all examples but one, there was minor rot on the ends of the full dimension 2 x 12 joists, but they had been there at least 90 years in the past. The one very bad example was in a very humid area of San Francisco near twin peaks, and those joists were encase in brick and morter and fully deteriorated. House was built in 1885 thereabouts.

My point is those joists in that climate probably have a good 100 years ahead of them despite a faulty installation.

Brent.
 
At the end of the day it depends on how high you are above grade and the height of ground water. the only problem you'd have with moisture at this location would be introduced via capillary action. Here if it is 16" above grade no protection of framing members is required.
 
Are you sure these older homes you speak of aren't redwood? That photo above looks like redwood.
 
Glenn said:
Are you sure these older homes you speak of aren't redwood? That photo above looks like redwood.
I thought the same as you but it's not redwood.
 
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