EastMark
New Member
Posts:60
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| 27 Mar 2010 07:10 AM |
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From reading alot of info on blower door testing and sufficient 'tightness' of a home I see many times the sill seal is a common leak point which makes sense.
I also read about a product called 'Triple Guard" and see its pretty expensive not that user freindly.
Is there any better proven methods that are effective you guys have used ? Any tips on products or techniques that work for you ?
Thanks for your input.
Mark |
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cmkavala
Veteran Member
Posts:4324
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| 27 Mar 2010 08:48 AM |
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Mark;
wether the base plate is wood, steel channel or trex, we have used a bead of epandable foam just before fastening the base.
It forms to any imperfections on the slab /masonry edge. |
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| Chris Kavala<br>[email protected]<br>1-877-321-SIPS<br /> |
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Matt G
New Member
Posts:93
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| 29 Mar 2010 08:16 AM |
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The good news is that the regular roll foam sill seal is cheap and easy to use. Another great benefit of sill seal in addition to air sealing is that it provides a capillary break between cementous foundation materials and wood wall framing. I think it provides some level of insect sealing too.
One piece of advice: use it on all walls - not just the exterior. For example, if you were building a 2 story house on a slab, and used 1/4" thick sill seal only on the exterior walls, the interior walls on the 2nd floor could potentially be 1/2" lower in the center of the house. With a roof truss home this would mean 1/2" gaps between the wall framing cap plates and the truss bottom chords. You would think that the foam would compress significantly, but I have found that it does not. A down side to sill seal under interior walls is that for many it is SOP to glue interior wall bottom plates to the subfloor to prevent floor squeaks caused by flex in the subfloor in combination with nails used to hold the walls to the floor system. Obviously installing the foam is not compatible with the bottom plate glue process.
Liberal amounts of a good quality caulk applied to the subfloor/wall intersection prior to sheetrock is always an alternative. |
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wes
Advanced Member
Posts:810
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| 29 Mar 2010 09:00 AM |
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I agree with Chris,
Expanding foam seems to give me the best seal.
Also, if you use rolled sill seal as Matt suggested, you should still use pressure treated wood for your sill plates that are on concrete.
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| Wes Shelby<br>Design Systems Group<br>Murray KY<br>[email protected] |
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Matt G
New Member
Posts:93
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| 29 Mar 2010 10:39 AM |
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Posted By wes on 29 Mar 2010 09:00 AM
I agree with Chris,
Expanding foam seems to give me the best seal.
Also, if you use rolled sill seal as Matt suggested, you should still use pressure treated wood for your sill plates that are on concrete.
Do you use regular foam or the low expanding type? |
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Jesse Thompson
New Member
Posts:89
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| 05 Apr 2010 11:41 AM |
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The best sill seal we have used by far are the EPDM gaskets from Conservation Technologies. The typical pink roll out sill seal doesn't really seal at all, air flows right through it. They use a very similar rubber to car door gaskets, they should stay flexible for the life of the house, unlike most caulks or sealants. http://conservationtechnology.com/building_gaskets.html |
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| Jesse Thompson<br>Kaplan Thompson Architects<br>http://www.kaplanthompson.com/<br>Portland, ME<br><br>Beautiful, Sustainable, Attainable |
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vb
New Member
Posts:88
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| 20 Apr 2010 11:15 PM |
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Posted By Jesse Thompson on 05 Apr 2010 11:41 AM
The best sill seal we have used by far are the EPDM gaskets from Conservation Technologies. The typical pink roll out sill seal doesn't really seal at all, air flows right through it.
They use a very similar rubber to car door gaskets, they should stay flexible for the life of the house, unlike most caulks or sealants.
http://conservationtechnology.com/building_gaskets.html Jesse, I priced this gasket and it is very expensive. about $200 dollars to do my house instead of $30 bucks for the typical sill seal. Is this product really worth the extra dough? I need a little more convincing. |
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aardvarcus
Basic Member
Posts:226
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| 22 Apr 2010 08:21 PM |
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I have never been impressed with the quality of the standard sill seals. They don't seal very well. On the last house I did, we used a layer of masonry caulk between the masonry and the sill seal. We ran one single line right down the middle of the board, because that was where the 3/4" all thread anchors were centered, so it wouldn't break the seal as the board expanded and contracted. I don't even know if I would have used the sill seal at all, except it was already purchased. What it did, was hold the board up, and as we tightened the anchors down, so once we stopped, we would have to go back a while later and re-tighten them as the foam crushed and the bolts would lose their torque. |
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greenfin
New Member
Posts:25
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| 28 Apr 2010 06:50 AM |
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Actually i never heard about the product which you are talking about, can you give me the link for the information it can be helpful for me?
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| <a href="http://www.epdmcoatings.com/">Liquid Rubber</a> |
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greentree
Advanced Member
Posts:587
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| 29 Apr 2010 09:35 PM |
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I'd second the gaskets. Sill seal can be very effective but is ineffective where the masonry dips and the mudsill actually spans the dips creating wider gaps so the sill seal never gets compressed. If you have an awesome foundation contractor or took the time to grind your foundation tops flat you might achieve a 100% seal, most of the time it seems to run 90% effective with the remainder needing expanding foam or good sealant to compensate. I dont like to rely only on foam since it lacks good elasticity. Alot of the intial gaps also disappear once the mudsill gets loaded so it's not as poor of a seal as it initially appears to be. |
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cmkavala
Veteran Member
Posts:4324
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| 30 Apr 2010 07:24 AM |
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Posted By Matt G on 29 Mar 2010 10:39 AM
Do you use regular foam or the low expanding type? Matt; we use regular expanding and work fast! |
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| Chris Kavala<br>[email protected]<br>1-877-321-SIPS<br /> |
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thagreen
Basic Member
Posts:283
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| 30 Apr 2010 07:37 AM |
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Expanding foam will dry out and if not perfect everywhere will lose effectiveness. Expandin foam has a lot of use however for this instance, it is not the best solution. Instead I'd go with a generous bead of acoustic seal. It'll never dry out and follow expansion and contraction of the plate.
Cheers! |
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cmkavala
Veteran Member
Posts:4324
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| 30 Apr 2010 08:36 AM |
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thagreen;
caulk is fine for plates on a wood deck, but on an inconsistant concrete slab expandable foam works the best, our experience shows that it does not dry out.
We have found when going back to build additions when removing the plate the bond is so great it brings pieces of the concrete edge with it. |
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| Chris Kavala<br>[email protected]<br>1-877-321-SIPS<br /> |
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thagreen
Basic Member
Posts:283
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| 30 Apr 2010 10:30 AM |
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cmkavala,
Good to know. I do know concrete can be uneven, which is why mentioned "generous bead" in my past post.
No harm intended. Learning new stuff everyday.
Cheers! |
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