Not typical at all, it's a sign of a careful trade/builder. Gaskets under baseplates and caulking of all built-up posts (two or more 2x4s etc nailed together) would be another sign of a tight build. Since these items are not Code, they would typically be specified in your plans so the builder could cost them out.

All the rough ins have been filled with foam per code but I just happen to catch the opening as depicted above. I'd say that was the worst one with about a 1/8" gap.

8 tubes of caulk later I caulked them all.

Worthy, are you saying its not typically for a build to caulk those gaps unless specified in the plans? The plumber set a tub against an exterior wall and caulked every thing framing join in the area. Nice to see that.

Or perhaps I'm out of date and the latest version of IRC and IECC are finally taking hold, especially the part that requires blower door testing of all homes.

IECC 2012

Table R402.4.1.1 requires:

• “A continuous air barrier shall be installed in the building envelope.
  Exterior thermal envelope contains a continuous air barrier. Breaks or
  joints in the air barrier shall be sealed. Air-permeable insulation
  shall not be used as a sealing material.”
• “The air barrier in any dropped ceiling/soffit shall be aligned with
  the insulation and any gaps in the air barrier sealed. Access openings,
  drop down stair or knee wall doors to unconditioned attic spaces shall
  be sealed.”
• “Corners and headers shall be insulated and the junction of the foundation and sill plate shall be sealed. The junction of the top plate
  and top of exterior walls shall be sealed. Exterior thermal envelope
  insulation for framed walls shall be installed in substantial contact
  and continuous alignment with the air barrier. Knee walls shall be
  sealed.”
• “The space between window/door jambs and framing and skylights and framing shall be sealed.”
• “Rim joists shall be insulated and include the air barrier.”
• “Insulation shall be installed to maintain permanent contact with
  underside of subfloor decking. The air barrier shall be installed at any
  exposed edge of insulation.”
• “Where provided in lieu of floor insulation, insulation shall be
  permanently attached to the crawlspace walls. Exposed earth in unvented
  crawl spaces shall be covered with a Class I vapor retarder with
  overlapping joints taped.”
• “Duct shafts, utility penetrations, and flue shafts opening to exterior or unconditioned space shall be sealed.”
• “Batts in narrow cavities shall be cut to fit, or narrow cavities
  shall be filled by insulation that on installation readily conforms to
  the available cavity space.”
• “Air sealing shall be provided between the garage and conditioned spaces.”
• “Recessed light fixtures installed in the building thermal envelope shall be air tight, IC rated, and sealed to the drywall.”
• “Batt insulation shall be cut neatly to fit around wiring and
  plumbing in exterior walls, or insulation that on installation readily
  conforms to available space shall extend behind piping and wiring.”
• “Exterior walls adjacent to showers and tubs shall be insulated and
  the air barrier installed separating them from the showers and tubs.”
• “The air barrier shall be installed behind electrical or communication boxes or air sealed boxes shall be installed.”
• “HVAC register boots that penetrate building thermal envelope shall be sealed to the subfloor or drywall.”
• “An air barrier shall be installed on fireplace walls. Fireplaces shall have gasketed doors.”

However, one third of the US is under the 2009 version of IECC, which is much less stringent.

We use UDC in WI...I'll probably take a look at that out of curiosity now.

The crack you see adds up to a large hole in your building envelope, admitting air which hurts energy costs/comfort and sometimes causes mold problems when humidity is deposited on cold surfaces inside the wall which is hidden by finishes. If you have found this obvious crack at eye level, you can be assured there are many more in not so obvious locations. Add them all up and you have a hole the size of an open window or two.

Caulk is better than nothing, but depending on type and location, it's probably a short term fix. As the material expands and contracts, poor quality material applied haphazardly will crack and admit air. Canned foam is also a less than ideal fix for many of these locations.

It's great that you have taken an interest in improving your situation but a blower door test is the best way of diagnosing the quality of your building envelope.

Building codes are not doing a good job of enforcing airtightness, even where the 2012 and 2015 codes have been adopted. Do not rely on "air-sealing checklists". Invest in Energystar certification or other third party to verify your home's integrity. Blower door tests are usually more important than insulation details.

But isn't the blower door test the equivalent of closing the barn door after the horse?

You can have more than one blower door test. If you are lucky maybe your builder knows someone who is training raters who will give you a twofer (or even a threefer?) or a discount where one is done early for practice and the last is for the paperwork. Then you could do pre-insulation, post-insulation, post-drywall.

I got up to ceiling height in most locations and only found a couple other spots. I didn't see a need above the soffit vents.

I used QSI Quad which has excellent stretch characteristics so that should help.

Thanks for the responses!

OSI quad is a good one. Gaps over 3/16 should include backer rod and tooling to create an hourglass shaped profile. Stay away from water based canned foam. Great stuff seems to be good quality with the window and door type seeming to have better flexibility over time.

Blower door timing depends on the situation. More inexperienced builders and crews should test sooner to make any needed improvements before air and weather barriers are covered with finishes. Even builders with few tested houses under their belt should be achieving code minimums easily for most designs.

Before drywall offers better opportunity to improve, but after drywall gives better results with inherit contributions to airsealing. The rater we use doesn't charge very much to come back and test, but we've never needed to either. Current code minimums, including Energy Star, are extremely lax and easy to achieve compared to what is considered high performance. Despite the low relative performance, I'm really happy to see code start to enforce this building science fundamental.

"But isn't the blower door test the equivalent of closing the barn door after the horse?"

wow. typical though.

I see it as a three fold issue

1-builders who don't want to build better low rate testing.

2-home owers form their opinions from what their builder tell them.

3-someone new (or just lazy) to the efficiency trade that comes to

test at wrong times/misuses the equipment/manipulates

the results of blower door testing. (and duct testing)

and experienced energy rater would do building envelope

inspections while build is in progress.

blower door testing can be done when house is blacked

in prior to insulation, or when house is complete.

ideally one hires the efficiency person in design

phase, not just to do a blow & go test.

OP, if gaps exceed 1/4" use backer rod in the gap.

use a long life, good quality caulk.

always make a second pass after caulk has

dried to add more caulk if necessary.

best of luck