Why are all sill plates defaulting to 5 1/2"?

[Browneye]

Just to make sure I am not confusing normal terms with what the software calls a sill plate, I define a sill plate (a.k.a bottom plate) as the wood bottom piece of a wall.  In the case of a monolithic slab on grade, the sill plate it treated and is bolted to the slab.  There is also usually a sill seal between the bottom plate and the concrete.  Typically the bottom plate is the same dimension as the wall being built so 3 1/2" for a 2x4 wall and 5 1/2 for a 2X6 wall.  

 

I just checked my 2x4 walls and all show a 5 1/2 sill plate.  Shouldn't this be 3 1/2".   If I'm correct on all this, maybe I'm expecting too much from the software meaning it should know what size sill plate to put based on the wall thickness?   I'm really hoping I'm confused on this because its a pain to go change every single wall that is 2X4.

[Rookie65]

See what your foundation default has. It may be using the default 5-1/2" sill plate from there.Maybe change that to 3-1/2", or change it to no sill plate and see if it goes away.

Sill plate is usually the term for the sill on top of a foundation between the concrete and the floor joists/rim joist. The bottom of a wall is often refereed to as a "shoe", at least here.. 

[Browneye]

Thanks.  I have no floor joist or rim joist because I have monolithic slab.  At least it seems I have the same definition as you and the software.   Its silly that they define this in the foundation vs. letting the software default it to the wall thickness with the option to change it only when you want a sill plate that is different than the wall thickness.  The only scenario I can imagine where someone would want option would be if you had an extremely thick interior wall material and wanted to bring the sill plate out past the wall for base board backing.

[Rookie65]

I know you have a monolithic slab. I'm just wondering if it's a default item for any foundation if it's not removed? Without seeing your plan, it's just guesswork. 

[Browneye]

It does appear to be a default item for any foundation.  I guess if I'd changed it to 3 1/2" I wouldn't have had to change so many walls.  I only have a few 2X6 walls for drainage pipes.  Didn't want to completely remove it as I do need sill plates and wasn't sure how much work it would be to add them all back.

[Rookie65]

Ok. Might need to add foundation breaks for the areas that need the 2x6, and set the default to 2x4, whichever is easier for you at this point.