Thread: Structural Question - Interior Wall Touching Garage Floor Grade

OK, I think I have an issue but not sure. Our home was built new a few years ago. The greatroom in the back left corner was sunken down about 8 inches. A portion of that room (front left corner) is adjacent to the garage. Since the greatroom was sunk, the poured basement walls also have a step-down to match. The issue I see, is that the front left corner of the great room wall touches the garage floor, since the poured walls were also dropped down 8 inches in this area. There is a small gap in the garage's drywall where it meets the floor. If you look back under this gap, you can see the untreated 2X4 that makes up the bottom plate of the wall that makes up the front left corner of our greatroom. This bottom plate is at or maybe even slightly below the grade of the poured cement garage floor. Isn't this a major issue? Water, bugs, rodents can easily get to this untreated bottom wall plate. I would have thought that there would need to be some of the poured basement wall above the garage floor grade. Plus, if you look on the outside of the house, this step down in the poured basement wall was oddly covered with vinyl siding. Maybe that is OK, but I am still concerned - as I can see the end of the bottom wall plate mentioned above (now exposed to the outside weather and elements), since the vinyl siding had to also step down to match and the corner bead has about a 1/2 inch gap between the other siding piece. Seems like poor workmanship there as well, and I always thought that the bottom wall plates were always pressure treated wood and on top of that thin foam stipping (to prevent moisture transfer).

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Here are some pics. On the outside one, I put some moth balls in the gap - just in case something wanted to get up in there (temporary measure on my part).

I would suggest you call the builder and ask him to come by and see both of those spots. We have a new home warranty program here that would cover repairs like that gap in the envelope for the first 5 years.
If your home in covered by a warranty, a home inspector can put together a report for your whole house for under $500.

I would suggest you call the builder and ask him to come by and see both of those spots. We have a new home warranty program here that would cover repairs like that gap in the envelope for the first 5 years.
If your home in covered by a warranty, a home inspector can put together a report for your whole house for under $500.