A sill plate or sole plate in construction and architecture is the bottom horizontal member of a wall or building to which vertical members are attached. The word "plate" is typically omitted in America and carpenters speak simply of the "sill". Other names are rat sill, ground plate, ground sill, groundsel, night plate, and midnight sill.[1][2][3]
Sill plates are usually composed of lumber but can be any material. The timber at the top of a wall is often called a top plate, pole plate, mudsill, wall plate or simply "the plate".
- ^ Peters, Rick (2000). Framing Basics. Sterling Publishing. p. 13. ISBN 1402711204.
Sole Plate: A horizontal 2-by-framing member that is attached directly to the masonry foundation or flooring; also referred to as a sill plate or mudsill
- ^ Tolson, Simon (2014). Dictionary of Construction Terms. CRC Press. p. 147. ISBN 9781317912347.
Ground plate: a beam forming the lowest level of a timber frame, onto which the uprights are attached. Also known as a ground sill or sole plate ... Ground sill: see Ground plate.
- ^ Soule, Richard; Howison, George H. (1891). A Dictionary of English Synonymes and Synonymous or Parallel Expressions. Frederick Warne & Co. p. 196. OCLC 697718720.
Groundsill, groundsel: a. sill, ground-plate