What is the difference between a sill plate and a sole plate?
• Sill plate: Bottom plate on concrete or masonry • Sole plate: Bottom plate is sitting on wood • The sole plate connection: • Is an inherently weak connection it is difficult to make it strong • One reason for weakness is that nails must go through flooring, subfloor etc., so penetration of nail is not as good as needed. • When nails or lag screws resist shear, they must be sufficiently long enough to penetrate through the sole plate and floor sheathing into the framing member below. • Table 23-G of the UBC specifies the required penetration of nails into the framing member. • When the nail penetration falls below Table 23-G values, the allowable load for the nail is reduced proportionally up to 50% of its value • When nail penetration falls below 6 nail shank diameters, the allowable load value is zero • For this reason, nails often cannot transfer shear forces through thick sheathing. • What can be done to address this problem? • If the wall framing is exposed above the floor, as in