When designing a building that uses modern techniques like those featured in this Building Science article, such as exterior ridged foam insulation and a rain screen, how do you deal with the hideous looking overhang of materials extending way beyond the slab?
With 2" of foam insulation, 1/2" sheathing, 1/2" furring strips and 1/2" siding, there's a full 4" of wall covering on the face of the studs. So if the stud wall is built on the edge of the slab, you have 4" of overhanging materials, floating 6" above the ground. (Code requires a 6" minimum gap between the final grade and the bottom of wood members, so you can't fill the gap with dirt.)
I drew an example to scale to illustrate the problem. Essentially, the concrete wall comes up 6", then goes out 4" for the width of the materials, and then continues up. I think this is going to look ugly, especially near doors where there's a concrete patio slab outside instead of dirt.
I'm assuming that I'm doing this wrong, so could someone please tell me the proper way to design this type of wall so it's not unsightly? (And also functions as intended).
Should the slab be extended further, and the studs set back from the edge so the bulk of the rain screen, furring strips, and insulation sit over the slab?
