How can I anchor a slightly oversized home to new concrete foundation?

Question

We are moving a house measuring just over 24 ft by 40 ft to a new concrete basement foundation. It appears that the foundation will be a couple inches smaller than the house. What is the method of attachment if the rim joist and sill plate don’t match up?

Answer 1

You leave a lot of detail left to the imagination here. I'll make some assumptions and suggest a few things:

• While the house is lifted, fasten existing or new sill plates well to the rim joists. This may ultimately be handled by lapped wall sheathing, but it can't hurt.

• Once the house is in place, drill through the sill plate and into the foundation wall for expanding anchor bolts.

• If you can't do that due to clearance or whatever, set anchor bolts before positioning the house, and carefully drill the sill plate for those locations.

• Otherwise, cut short segments of 3x2 steel angle and use them as brackets between the sill plate and the foundation wall, using lag screws and expanding anchors as appropriate.

• You could also run straps periodically from the joists on the interior to the inner face of the foundation wall. This would serve the same function as fastening the rim.

Whatever you decide, run it by your local inspection authority for approval.