Anchor bolts require on foundation knee walls

[Trent Tarter]

Wanting some clarification that anchor bolts are required on all foundation sill plates and knee walls, specifically the foundation knee walls for floor structure support. New home I inspected yesterday had no anchor bolts on foundation knee wall footings in crawlspace. Appeared that the used nails to secure sill plate to footings.

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[Jim Katen]

Here's the applicable section of the WA code:

Download Attachment: Foundation Anchorage WA2009.pdf

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It seems to me that the code is saying you need the bolts.

That said, I don't know what the bolts are going to do that the PA fasteners won't do in this particular application. Uplift isn't an issue here. There's not much in the way of a connection between the knee wall and the joists, and the wall isn't sheathed, so it doesn't need to resist lateral forces.