Section R504 Pressure Preservative-Treated Wood Floors (On Ground)

Pressure preservative-treated wood basement floors and floors on ground shall be designed to withstand axial forces and bending moments resulting from lateral soil pressures at the base of the exterior walls and floor live and dead loads. Floor framing shall be designed to meet joist deflection requirements in accordance with Section R301.

Unless special provision is made to resist sliding caused by unbalanced lateral soil loads, wood basement floors shall be limited to applications where the differential depth of fill on opposite exterior foundation walls is 2 feet (610 mm) or less.

Joists in wood basement floors shall bear tightly against the narrow face of studs in the foundation wall or directly against a band joist that bears on the studs. Plywood subfloor shall be continuous over lapped joists or over butt joints between in-line joists. Sufficient blocking shall be provided between joists to transfer lateral forces at the base of the end walls into the floor system.

Where required, resistance to uplift or restraint against buckling shall be provided by interior bearing walls or properly designed stub walls anchored in the supporting soil below.

The area within the foundation walls shall have all vegetation, topsoil and foreign material removed, and any fill material that is added shall be free of vegetation and foreign material. The fill shall be compacted to ensure uniform support of the pressure preservative-treated wood floor sleepers.

A minimum 4-inch-thick (102 mm) granular base of gravel having a maximum size of ³/₄ inch (19.1 mm) or crushed stone having a maximum size of ¹/₂ inch (12.7 mm) shall be placed over the compacted earth.

Polyethylene sheeting of minimum 6-mil (0.15 mm) thickness shall be placed over the granular base. Joints shall be lapped 6 inches (152 mm) and left unsealed. The polyethylene membrane shall be placed over the pressure preservative-treated wood sleepers and shall not extend beneath the footing plates of the exterior walls.

Framing materials, including sleepers, joists, blocking and plywood subflooring, shall be pressure-preservative treated and dried after treatment in accordance with AWPA U1 (Commodity Specification A, Special Requirement 4.2), and shall bear the label of an accredited agency.