exterior wood filler?

[George]

I have a 2x wall plate, whose edge should be flush with the studs. Sad to say, it's 1/8 to 1/4" back from them. Is there some sort of filler to bring it up flush, before nailing the sheathing to the plate?

Plan B would be to use screws, then fill w/ expanding foam.

Thanks, George

[nestork]

And, Plan C would be to staple 1/4 or 3/8 inch diameter foam backer rod to the wall plate and then install your sheathing. Considering foam backer rod costs half of nothing if you buy it from the construction supply stores and pay cash for it, maybe staple on two or three rows of the stuff.

Then nail to your wall studs, but predrill, counter sink and use flat head stainless steel sheet metal screws to go into the wall plate and tighten them snug by hand.

Alternatively, Plan D would be to staple one string of foam backer rod to the bottom plate, nail to the studs and screw to the plate, thereby compressing the foam backer rod, and then use expanding foam or even a latex caulk to fill the smaller gap under the foam backer rod. You wanna fill that space with something because it's got a tapering width, and bugs instinctively crawl into the smallest places they can fit in when they're not out looking for food. That makes perfect bug-sense because if you've wedged yourself into the smallest gap you can get yourself into, then no bigger bug can crawl in after you and eat you.

Go to google Images and type in "foam backer rod" to see what the stuff looks like.

Or, at least, that's what I'd probably do.

[a2rjh]

just one 2X? just shim

[hrhofmann]

Take a 2x and slice it up usiing a table saw or portable saw to make shims. Or maybe you can find some weatherproof material of the correct thickness.

[George]

Thanks to all who replied. The particular constrution involved would be hard (for me) to describe. I'll just leave it that, because of access constraints, it would be difficult to implement some of the suggestions. I do think something along the lines of the backer rod + screws might work. I only sort of knew those existed, and wasn't at all thinking of them. So, thanks esp for that.

George

[George]

Final note: I found what I was looking for - 1/16" thick plastic drywall shim, from Trim-Tex. Even better, I already had some. I just layered it to get the different thicknesses I needed.