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I am building a new home and in the attached garage the 2x6 walls were not aligned with the 6in cinder blocks. It looks like the blocks were not lined up straight so on one side of the wall the sill plate is not on the cinder block in some areas by 1-1/2 in and at most 2-1/2 inches.

The carpenter failed to tell anyone and it was caught a few steps too late. There is no second storey above this wall. The overhang is on the inside wall and the outside has been bricked already. Do you think this is ok?

isherwood
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2 Answers2

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The only things relevant here are bearing area and anchoring.

Bearing area can be as little as 1-1/2". Think of a rim joist, for example. It's standing on edge and carrying structural walls above with just 1-1/2" of width. That said, stud position is important. Many garages have 2x6 bottom plates acting as sill plates, and the 2x4 studs are flush at the outside face. This means that with a 2-1/2" displacement only 1" of stud is directly over the foundation. That's likely a problem with the inspector. Bearing area refers to load transfer vertically, otherwise you do have a cantilever situation as suggested by Fresh Codemonger.

Anchoring may be difficult with only 3" of plate bearing, though. Anchor bolts would need to be very near the edge of the block core, or new anchors would need to be drilled in.

If both of those requirements are met there's not much concern.

isherwood
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2x6s are pretty beefy for single story garage walls. The rule of thumb for cantilever is 1/3 over hang. You have 5.5 inches of your sill plate so 1.8" would be the cantilever maximum.

I'd probably just get some pressure treated 2x4 or 2x6 and tapcon/paf them vertically on flat into the cinderblock wall below the overhang to add support down to the slab where the overhang was more than 1.8". You could just do this 16" oc like standard framing if the section of overhang is large.

Fresh Codemonger
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    I'm not sure the cantilever is a concern here, since the majority of the ends of the 2x6 studs will be bearing directly on the concrete block (through the sill plate), even in the worst case location. – SteveSh May 03 '23 at 13:52
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    Yeah it would probably be fine but to paf 3-4 off cuts as support isn't a lot of work especially if this is going to be inspected. If the inspector sees an unsupported 2" overhang on a sill plate he is going to ask questions. – Fresh Codemonger May 03 '23 at 16:28
  • Sorry, but cantilever isn't a factor here and bolts in shear aren't considered load-bearing, so your proposed solution is false security. Concrete screws are especially inadequate. – isherwood Aug 31 '23 at 13:09
  • " tapcon/paf them vertically on flat into the cinderblock" what does "vertically on flat" mean, exactly? I'm very confused by that one – FreeMan Aug 31 '23 at 16:01
  • @isherwood - confused about bolts in sheer not considered loadbearing? I have 6x6 posts epoxy bolted into a poured concrete wall supporting a beam. Nothing under the 6x6. Inspected and stamped by civil eng. How are bolts any different than nails on a hanger that support a joist that are under sheer? – Fresh Codemonger Sep 05 '23 at 03:43
  • @freeman, you put the 2x4 on flat and install them vertically like a stud against the cinderblock but supporting the plate. – Fresh Codemonger Sep 05 '23 at 03:45
  • You're describing several very specifically engineered solutions. The former has rated bolts and epoxy in poured concrete. The second has structural steel. Both are very different from just screwing boards to the block. Tapcons are not rated for shear loads like that. – isherwood Sep 05 '23 at 12:54
  • A drawing would help clarify this answer. – FreeMan Sep 05 '23 at 21:11