Dwarf Wall? Or fix Sole plate straight to concrete slab? Questions answered and a range of solutions on problems and issues encountered with timber framed buildings

[dunny1234]

I'm about to construct a timber frame building 10m X 6m. It's going to go on a concrete slab of the same size. Obviously, once the cladding goes on, the building will be a tad larger than the slab. A few people have recomended laying a single course of engineered bricks on the slab, and then place the sole plate on top of this?

Is this neccessary? If so, what do i do with the DPM from under the slab? Would you then need to leave ample DPM from the concrete slab to lap over the layer of bricks.

Or, does it go under the single course of bricks, and then a strip of damp proof course on top the bricks, and then the timber frame on top of that?

Any advice would be great, thanks in advance

[welsh brickie]

fold the dpm ontop of the slab and lay the dpc on top then fix the sole plate to the concrete.If you lay a course of brick it will move with expansion and contraction of the timber.

[dunny1234]

Thanks very much for the info Welsh Brickie, much appreciated. If i did that, what would happen when i fixed the soleplate to the concrete slab? Would the anchors not pierce the DPM & DPC?

What's your thoughts on this? If i placed the timber frame on the slab with a DPC inbetween and then ran the DPM up the outside of the timber frame for 300mm or so. Then have my external breather membrane come down over the top of the DPM.

I'll then attached the soleplate to the slab using Tapcon type anchors. These dont appear to have a large diameter, so shouldn't damage the DPC???? Does this sound okay??

Or, is it worth using as 'J-Bolt' style fixing to fix sole plate to slab, and avoid puncturing the DPC?? As

Thanks again

[welsh brickie]

fold the dpm onto the slab and then staple it to the inner side of the frame,
Which ever bolt you use it will damage the dpc and dpm, if you pack and fix the sole plate off the slab with plastic packers by 5mm you can pump expanding foam in the gap and this will prevent any damp

[dunny1234]

Thanks again. Could i not use treated timber for the soleplate?

I thought i could lay the slab, fold the DPM over, DPC and then fix a treated timber soleplate down. I could then attach my untreated timber frame panel on this? Effectively, a double sole plate, but makes life easier when fixing heavey timber panels in place, and should provide better protection against damp?

[welsh brickie]

Sorry I assumed you were going to use treated timber, anyway I would definatly use treated timber for the sole plate.