Looking for advice in dealing with a problem i created :(. I built an ICF foundation (my own home and first ICF project) and all walls except one i mistakenly did not have a taper top. I put a 2x12 sill plate all the way around and didn't think anything of it. The one wall is load bearing and I built my home to the outside edge of this ICF that does not have the taper top. I have a double rim board running along this side. However one is basically hanging on top of foam and other is on concrete. What are some options? I was thinking of bolting a ledger board to the outside. Thoughts or suggestion? Should I use steel, LVL, or dimensional lumber? Length of wall is 32ft, single storey.

Posted By greenguy on 21 Jul 2015 06:49 PM
Looking for advice in dealing with a problem i created :(. I built an ICF foundation (my own home and first ICF project) and all walls except one i mistakenly did not have a taper top. I put a 2x12 sill plate all the way around and didn't think anything of it. The one wall is load bearing and I built my home to the outside edge of this ICF that does not have the taper top. I have a double rim board running along this side. However one is basically hanging on top of foam and other is on concrete. What are some options? I was thinking of bolting a ledger board to the outside. Thoughts or suggestion? Should I use steel, LVL, or dimensional lumber? Length of wall is 32ft, single storey.

Just to be absolutely clear can you give us a sketch? My first thought is there probably really isn't a problem. Are the joist ends resting on the wall? If so, the lack of concrete for the end couple of inches won't have any significant impact. Why are you using a double rim board? A single should be enough.

See attached sketch of problem. Rim board I am meaning just outer two 2x10's. Joist run with the wall I am referring to. I have a 2x6 load bearing wall sitting on top of this entire 32ft.

Do you have a basement or crawl space under the house? My first thought would be to run the joists the other direction, across the short dimension of that part of the house. Then there would be no problem at all because the joist ends would run to within 1 1/2" of the exterior edge of the floor. Shorter joists will be stiffer so you could use smaller joists and/or have less support under them to prevent sag. My floor plan is somewhat similar. I used a pony wall to support the joist ends where they meet up with the joists in the other part of the house. In other words half the joist go E-W and the other half N-S.

I'm not seeing a major problem here, but if your concerned, put a third band joist inside. I don't see what an exterior ledger does for you. The other option would be to run short joist perpendicular to your last inside joist and the rim board

I can't access it from the inside anymore as the next joist I only have about 3 inches between the ICF wall and next Joist. My thought with the ledger was to cut out foam and put ledger directly under the outer most joist that is currently on top of foam?

I still don't see a problem. Most of my customers build foundations without using taper tops. They do exactly what you did. 2x12 PT top plate with 2 rim joist with no problems to report

What load is the 32' wall in question supporting? Since the floor is not hanging from this wall, Is it a 2X6 wall up to support roof trusses? You have a 2X12 sill attached to the top of the concrete core with Jbolts? and floor joices over the sill with a 2X6 wall attached to then and the rims on the sill extending to the outer edge of the sill(overhanging foam)?

A wall cross section drawing of that 32' wall would be good just to make sure we are all visualizing and talking about the same problem.

If the above is correct, it dosn't sound like a real terrible problem especially since you doubled the rim board on that side. If it has a 2X6 wall on top of the floor system, more than half of that 2X6 wall will be resting on a load path back to concrete. I guess 1 question would be, would a 2X4 wall adequately support the load? That is nearly the footpringt left with the foam overhang. but since the outer rim is attached to the inner rim, this is not entirely true as it transfers some of the load back to the inner rim over concrete, as does the 2X12 sill plate on which everything rests.

If it bothers you or a code official, you could perhaps double up the short blocking joices on that side which the wall above is resting on which would add more structure in the floor to transfer the wall load back to concrete. I guess another option would be to set that wall back the thickness of the foam or make it a 2X8 or 2X10 wall vis a 2X6 so the equivelent of a 2X6 wall footprint rests completely on the stub joices(and inner rim joice) over concrete. This should meet all structural requirements and have the benefit of leaving room for added insulation in that wall.

Have you asked your building department if this is even a problem? Better IMO to discuss it before you commit to a path, than to fail your framing inspection in a major fashion...

Thanks for on the info, i pasSed my framing inspections no concerns from my building inspectors, this is me being the builder and concerned if I did something I shouldn't have. I have noticed some settling which is normal but I plan to live here for the next 100 years. Thanks for the input and if you have any other comments please pass them on.