Basement – How to protect the soleplate when framing basement walls

basementframingsealingsubfloor

I plan on finishing my basement and I have a specific question about framing the walls and protecting the soleplate.

I plan on framing and setting up the walls BEFORE laying the subfloor, but that means I need to protect the soleplate from moisture. I plan on sealing the entire basement (thankfully it's fairly new and there are no cracks in the floor), but when I anchor the soleplate to the floor, it will obviously break this seal and potentially allow moisture to seep up around the fastener.

Should I do any of the following?

  1. Put caulk/glue under the soleplate where I know I'll be anchoring it
  2. Use washers or some other inorganic spacer to elevate the soleplate off of the concrete
  3. Use a pressure treated soleplate

I would rather not lay dricore first and then frame on top of it as that makes the dricore much harder to remove if there is ever a flooding issue. I'd also prefer the walls to be more stable than if they were anchored to dricore subflooring.

Best Answer

Any framing that directly contacts concrete should be pressure treated. So option 3. Sealing is an optimistic concept at best, .vs. ensuring that there is proper drainage outside the basement, but you could certainly put construction adhesive on the bottom of the soleplate, it won't hurt.

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