Shear walls are specialized structural systems designed to resist lateral forces, such as wind and seismic activity, in buildings. They are typically found in larger houses and high-rise buildings, which are more vulnerable to collapse due to their height. The Wind and Seismic standard allows interior shear walls to be designed to resist lateral loads, as it does not differentiate between external and internal shear walls.
Shear walls contribute to the overall stability and rigidity of a building, particularly in multi-story structures. By strategically placing them on the interior, engineers can prevent catastrophic collapse and smaller-scale damage like cracked drywall and fractured tile. Most homes have external shear walls, but interior shear walls are typically found only in larger homes and large buildings located near coastal areas.
Structural shear walls are usually at the exterior (perimeter) of the house, but perimeter shear walls can only resist a certain amount. Interior shear walls are typically found in larger structures, like big houses or high-rise buildings, that are more vulnerable to collapse. To install an interior shear wall correctly, follow these steps:
- Determine the height of the building and the location of the ceilings.
- Measure the height of the building and the height of the ceilings.
- Determine the type of shear wall needed for each area.
- Install the shear wall according to the specifications provided by the Wind and Seismic standard.
- Test the installation of the shear wall to ensure it is securely installed and secure.
📹 Introduction to Shear Walls: Understanding Overturning, Racking, and Base Shear
Description: In this introductory lesson, we’ll talk about the importance of shear walls in building construction and why they are …
What are the rules for shear walls?
In order to ensure lateral stability in two separate planes in each direction, shear walls must be provided with a minimum cumulative length of 0. 4 times the building’s long dimension. This measurement excludes openings or elements that are less than half the height of the building.
Can you have doors in shear walls?
The 2015 IBC Section 2308 Conventional Light-framed Construction provides prescriptive recommendations for reinforcement at openings in diaphragms for projects in seismic design categories B, C, D, and E. The document is specifically written for diaphragms and can apply to shear walls, but caution is advised as shear walls have not been tested specifically for small holes. Small openings are typically restricted to MEP openings, and shear wall methods are typically used for windows and doors. WoodWorks has calculated examples of these small opening checks.
How do you tell if an interior wall is a shear wall?
Shear walls are thinner, typically made from steel, reinforced concrete, or wood, while load bearing walls are thicker and made from solid materials like brick, wood, or concrete block. Both are crucial components in building stability and resilience. Shear walls support vertical loads, while load bearing walls support the weight of additional stories. They are integral to the building’s structural integrity, and their removal or alteration can lead to structural failures. Insulated concrete forms (ICFs) are revolutionizing their implementation, enhancing the stability and resilience of these walls.
Can shear walls be interior?
Shear walls are structural support systems found in most houses, with exterior shear walls found in most houses and interior shear walls in larger structures like high-rise buildings. They are best placed symmetrically within or around a building’s central axis point, with an identical one on the south side to create symmetry. The spacing of shear walls in a building depends on factors like building size and whether the walls are exterior or interior.
Where should shear walls be placed?
Shear walls significantly impact a structure’s behavior, typically found in the center of each half of a building, symmetrically around the central axis. They are often found around stairwells, elevator shafts, or windowless walls. They are identified by a solid line with a thinner line indicating a covering of sheathing. Shear walls can be built using any structural material, but their strength must equal or exceed the surrounding material. Common materials include steel plates, wood, and ICFs.
What does an interior load-bearing wall look like?
Load-bearing walls are defined as those with beams, columns, or other walls situated directly below or following their path, and which typically exceed a thickness of 6 inches. The walls situated at the core of a building bear the brunt of the roof’s weight.
Are all interior walls non load-bearing?
In the context of building construction, a non-load bearing wall is defined as a wall that does not support the weight of the structure, with the exception of the wall itself. Such walls are commonly found in interior walls, infill walls, curtain walls, and partition walls. It should be noted that this list is incomplete and that it can be improved by adding items that are currently missing.
Can drywall be used for shear wall?
The FASTENER SPACING MAXIMUM column indicates the distance between nails and screws, while Footnote b specifies that drywall must be attached to framing for it to be considered a shear wall with earthquake resistance or shear value. Wall construction describes the wall framing into which drywall is nailed or screwed, and it is divided into two types: blocked and unblocked. Blocked shear walls are fastened to the framing on all edges, while unblocked shear walls are fastened to blocking behind horizontal seams. The installation methods of drywall greatly impact shear capacity, as shown in the table.
Can internal walls be load-bearing?
To determine if a stud wall is load-bearing, follow the tips in the “how to tell if a wall is load-bearing” section. Building regulations for removing load-bearing walls include adhering to checks like party wall agreements and planning permission. Beam calculation’s checklist is a helpful tool for ensuring these regulations are followed. It covers essential checks like party wall agreements and planning permission.
It is crucial to obtain approval before beginning work to ensure safety. In summary, stud walls are commonly used in homes and adhering to these regulations is essential for safe and efficient wall removal.
Can a shear wall have a window in it?
Shear walls provide structural support against lateral forces, but they pose a design challenge for architects. They must limit windows or doors to the total area of the shear wall, and in some cases, cannot be used at all. Most houses have external shear walls, but internal shear walls are typically found in larger houses and high-rise buildings. The taller the building, the greater the need for internal shear walls and a lateral force resisting system. The ideal placement for shear walls in high-rise buildings and those requiring them is in the center of each half of the building, symmetrically built around the central axis.
Do shear walls go inside or outside?
Shear walls are typically placed at the perimeter or along exterior walls of a structure to distribute horizontal forces and resist lateral loads like wind and seismic forces. They should be placed at regular intervals throughout the building for consistent support and prevent excessive deformation. Steel moment frames are used as a last resort due to project cost, especially when there are few wood-framed walls along a shear line due to a high number of windows and doors.
📹 What is a Shear Wall
Such walls can be either load bearing or non-load bearing. Shear walls are a type of structural system that provides lateral …
My parents built their house out of Cinder blocks all the other neighbors thought they were crazy. A decade of hurricanes and their house is still standing strong. The neighbors have had whole walls blown in Their roof sagged because it was made out of particle wood.. My parents demanded no particle board. Yet the neighbors house is worth more on the market because it’s slightly bigger and has a pool. I’d roll with the cinderblock house all day.
Great presentation. Just learning the terms (Overturning, Racking, and Base Shear) is helpful in understanding better and being able to describe what most of us intuitively know. Construction is full of urban legends regarding the code and engineering. It is wonderful to get the straight scoop from PEs on how various forces act upon structures rather than the BS at lunchtime when framers pontificate about science.
When attaching sheathing, wouldn’t it be better to use taller panels and have them overlap the main floor rim joist and use the upper level sheets to overlap from the first floor walls past the 2nd floor (or attic floor) rim joist and the roof truss ends? That way the sheathing ties everything together which will aide in resisting shear forces but also wind uplift on the roof overhangs.
I survived Hurricane Andrew and then drove back down to my house, in South Miami Heights from NW 41st Street. Most homes built using cinder blocks construction survived. One housing development of 3000 homes, Lennar I think, gone. wiped of the map. I saw entire homes of cinder block gone. Roofs missing on some. Others, not a frickin’ scratch on them. O lived in a Quad townhome set up, Mine unit was on the west side, I had an 4’x5’ Plate glass above my front door. It had a 6″ crack in it. My unit had zero damage. no leaks, nothing. The people behind my unit that were facing east? They got wiped out, so did their neighbor facing east. My neighbor facing west, got damaged because of his east facing neighbor. The guy across the street from me, A soccer coach at FIU, je had just spent $30,000 on nee Scandinavian furniture, custom furniture. It was beautiful wood working! GONE! It belonged to Andrew and his mansion in the sky. What a mind blowing nightmare Andrew was. The closest any non combatant will ever come to what a combat zone looks like. Any seriously damaging hurricane. Sorry. Reliving those moments.
People are overpaying for these papaer mache homes. Its even worse that “flippers” go and “update” an older quality built home with dry wall and cheap materials at todays outrageous costs and market it as a “luxury home.” We need a market correction to fix this for the consumers because the NAR and builders don’t care.
Its amazing on that entry article how there was obviously no sheathing on the walls or roof, but was there any kind of temp bracing even applied? I do remember years ago when framers were only required to sheath the corners, which was just wrong. Great article, from one builder to the next, keep em coming bro!
Nice info, and GREAT article of shear failures! What would be super helpful is if Huber would stock longer Zip panels (and various Advantech flooring) in Canada. I can’t tell you how nice it would have been to have 10’ Zip and 1-1/8″ Advantech available locally… I had to import my floor sheathing from NY myself, a major PITA. Maybe you can pass this along to Huber? 😁
I’m only 3 minutes in and I’m irritated because I feel like a third grader should know this. But from the clips I’ve seen apparently some Carpenters don’t know this. I’m a welder fabricator and use gussets in several applications. It just seems like common sense to stop your 90° angles from becoming anything other than a 90 degree angle.
Just found this article and subbed. I just learned about these various forces. I built a small 4 x 8 raised deck to catch rainwater in barrels on. I braced it figuring I’d have racking either from back to front or from side to side. A light rain easily filled the barrels. Roughly 450 pounds of water in each 55 gallon barrel. I thought 2 x 4s I had left over would work. Nope! A couple 2 x 6s seems to have worked. No more racking. I have a lot more to learn! 👍🇺🇸🍀
Question, not pertaining to this particular article. I noticed in one of your foundation articles (can’t seem to find which one it was or I’d post this question there), that you used an I-joist to stiffen the top of the forms (if i’m remembering correctly). Have you ever used an I-joist to STRAIGHTEN an exterior wall? Or to assist in the straightening of an exterior wall ?
Dear engineers, 3″ perimiter is too closely spaced. When applied perfectly its fine, when applied by typical florida framing crews with some overshooting, and some tight spacing in fear of a nitpicking inspector, well it seems like a “tear here” perforated line. I’ve seen failed inspections pass after someone went back and shot between each nail. An inch of grace to account for human error would give a stronger end product AND eliminate a lot of headaches.
I walked thru a dried in house studs exposed house once that looked like the studs we’re all on an angle. But when it comes to plumb and true our eyes lie but it was still bugging me. I lived about 1/2 mile away so I got my level and good gawd yep, the house was built that way it was a bi-level house with a walk-out. The slider was plumb but all the walls leaned. This was in like 1995ish. This kind of construction was going on back then and it’s worse now. Builders where I’m at can’t afford skilled labor and most of the older experienced guys retired during the pandemic so these builders hire inexperienced people off the street. Houses take forever to build now too. Some materials are wacky in pricing and availability. I had planned to start a build 2 years ago and can’t see even see starting until 2025. BTW….2 years ago I gave up my builders license I’d had since 1995 because they only take online payments now and I don’t do anything financial online. Old school checks here. Residential construction is a mess with crap quality now.
Back in the 80s only certain walls were specd to be shear walls and sheeted….made a nightmare for stucco and siding guys dealing with 2 different planes….now every wall is sheeted and has been fir quite awhile but have seen the changes…..also simpson strong walls werent around back then, maybe 90s or 2000s they came in…. this is California maybe other parts were different
I’m renovating our 1980 built home and so far I’ve only gone through gypsum board sheathing in our kitchen and garage exterior walls. I know wax core gypsum sheathing exists and is sometimes used for additional water diversion or fire blocking, but I’m also concerned the builder may have used drywall sheathing to cut costs. Is there way to inspect the exterior sheathing material without damaging anything?
It seems like California really complicated everything. I live in Virginia and my uncle is a builder in San Diego. He was explaining the concept of shear walls to me and I was confused. Now I realize it’s just a well-built wall with sheathing… great info about all the specs, I’ll be using some lingo I learned here to impress customers 😅 while the industry standard is to be rude and not communicate with clients
The first article happened in Galveston Texas. Their mistake while building was not putting plywood on the exterior walls. Never go to the next level without plywood on the exterior to tie levels together. Without exterior plywood it is very easy for the structure to start racking. Bracing, straps and clips do not stop what you saw. I have seen three other houses in Galveston this year get blown over, none had plywood on the exterior. In our coastal climate with storms we do end up shearing 80% of the interior walls, but we can’t do it until electrical,plumbing and insulation are done.
Why not glue the plywood to the wall studs? You wouldn’t have to nail so much and get nail fatigue. I live in the NE with hurricanes and have never seen a house or any structure “overturn” and a lot of them don’t even have anything anchoring them to the foundation. I’m thinking that is extremely rare. Perhaps you would need a tornado and at that point nothing is going to help.
Thank you, that was very informative. I had never realize that orientation of plywood plays a role or can’t be just changed from vertical to horizontal with additional measures. I’ll do my homework on that subject as I’m gonna be using 8 foot tall plywood on a 10 foot wall and will have to cut a 2 foot tall section to complete full height and there might be some tricky aspects that i haven’t thought from the structural perspective a s to plywood orientation properties (I’m not building in the US by the way so not subjected to the same code requirements)
The bottom line is ALL home builders are using worse cheaper materials. Non dimensional lumber and particle or osb board everything! Truss systems and gusset plates to cut corner. Homebuilders now a days suck. You can act like your different all you want if you use the same crap materials is other builders and cut the same corners because your using modern construction techniques then your framing sucks. End of story. Quit building Cracker Jack boxes and then overcharging people tons of money for your garbage home.
So nailing 36 nails into every 3rd stud is better? 😂. Lazy framing and excuses for standing up. The strength is increased by staggering joints on the studs. By nailing all perimeters with 6″ on center you effectively blew every 3rd stud joint to death with 36 nails. Then we get wild walls on the interior. You don’t gain anything extra by standing up. You loose your stud strength. It sounds to me like you learned the lazy way instead of the right way. Yes standing up will still provide sheer value however you are still causing issues with spit studs. Or maybe you run all wet wood so that doesn’t matter. Lazy dude trying to sound like a pro!
e I have been a subscriber for a few years and have loved your website both as a residential designer and a framer (GC) for about 40 years. We design a residential structure in 2 way RC “prescriptive” or BC “engineered” with a (PE) mostly a mix of both. I am fortunate to be located in Southern California, a high seismic region Cat D1-D3. So we are required to design for both Wind and Seismic reactions “forces”. You did mention “stick framed” as a benefit but that is not the complete story. Let me explain the reason for the separated analyst. 1) The code books “Building Code” or “Residential Code” are prescriptive. This means if you comply with the code book then no engineering is required. Deviate from the code book for wood products (PE) engineering is required. Engineers do not calculate “Calcs” from the code books, it is the (NDS) “National Design Specification” for wood products that detail structural calculations. If you find it in the code book with zero engineering requirements. 2) Seismic Design, is simply mass and acceleration. The taller, and more massive the building the harder it is to transfer force to the ground. So this may surprise you “prescriptive” in a high seismic zone D3 under prescriptive code we need to A )design for racking with “Braced Wall Panels” racking. 2) Design for “Base Shear”, but we do not need to design for “Over Turning”. Engineered design must be designed for overturning with hold-downs. But why, because “prescriptive design” (RC) has 100 years of real-world proof.
House of cards, with price of fortune. Inner walls – sure, structural constructions – no, thank you. It can’t rack but what about twist and wiggle? I see it in the article. In normal countries when you throw a cup into the wall you buy a new cup, in North America – you start renovation 😂 We have saying “only wallpapers keep house from falling” for houses in very poor condition, and you made it literal.
What i dont understand is how are certain walls of a home are designated as shear walls b/c the direction of the wind can come from any direction. If wind is blowing from N -S and Wall-A is keeping Wall-C from falling sideways b/c that the direction the wind is blowing then Wall-A is the shear wall if I uderstand correctly. But if the direction of the wind is blowing E-W, then the roles of the 2 walls would be reversed right? So how are certain walls of a home designated as a full-time shear wall if the wind force can come from any random direction?
1975 a two story stick building in Round Rock Texas fell with the same lack of cross bracing. Inspector and professionals warned the worker to no avail. I may remember correctly that 3 men died. Witnessed said there was a loud crack and 2 seconds later there was a crooked pile of lumber. No chance for anyone to escape.
You would think that horizontal osb would provide greater sheer resistance as the load, which is lateral, is transferred over a greater lateral surface area. But I see how, having it vertical improves vertical sheer differtial which, I would think, is probably more important as the biggest lever arm is what’s farthest from the ground.
Thank you for the demonstrating important but rare to find topic-Shear Wall. Two question for discussion 1) Does a vault ceiling sunroom, proposed in Cary, North Carolina, total 18 feet wide gable end and total 13 feet 6 inches long ridge beam, built on 6×6 posts and framing for fireplace, etc, still need a minimum 16 inch shear wall at the corners on both directions? 2) How about for any other size sunroom built only on 6×6 posts and beam, do they need minimum shear wall corners? Thank you.
The most amazing thing: people knew this 1000 years ago. Some wood frame buildings from 700 years ago are still standing in central Europe. Our house is 400 years old and just looking at the design it shows, how much technology was involved, without a single machine. Diagonal beams ensure stability. The removal of these beams in the 40s and 70s caused the building to move. We now started to rebuild it and stabilize the frame further. The pretty European wood frame houses don’t look like they do only because it looks good, most of it is simply functional. Place the diagonal beams the other way and it will be unstable. Oh, the entire outer framing is oak wood, no metal was used. It is not like they didn’t have it: the clay coating on the inside was partially held in place with hand-made nails.
If people are so dumb that they don’t know basic carpentry, then they have no business building to start with. Who in their right mind would put a roof truss on top of a wall that wasn’t sheathed and Braced? It’s beyond belief that somebody would have to show a article like that. Without sheathing, it wouldn’t even take wind or a seismic event to send that building to the ground.
I’ll be showing this to new-hire engineers as a great example of basic shear wall construction. The only input I have is that moment frames are not subsets of shears walls. They are two different types of lateral force resisting systems (i.e. braced frames, moment frames, shear walls). They use different design methods with different seismic loads on the structure. But this isn’t a article on moment frames 😅, so very well done! 👍🏼
Ive never understood why people build entire houses before they sheet anything. Sheeting walls as you go saves so much time its not even comparable to doing it after everything is built. Sheet 8ft walls with 9ft sheeting to cover the rimboard of the deck theyre sitting on when you stand them up. Tyvek and cut out windows while the wall is laying down as well. Ive built this way for 35 years and never had a single problem.
Here in Washington state most the projects I’ve worked on required .148×2 3/8″ nails for any designated shear wall. Also if the nailing Pattern is tighter than 6″ and 12″ a 3x stud is required at the plywood edge as well as a staggered nailing pattern into the double top plate so both plates are nailed. Most of the multi-story wood frame apartments I’ve done will have an earth bound hold down at each end of the shear wall which consists of a continuous rod that is coupled together and terminates midway on the final floor. At each floor the rod is held down by a steel plate and an auto take down which compensates for the inevitable shrinking of the wood.
Do you y’all still build your own gables with gable studs down there with finding the Line lengths and common differences and notching the top cord in it with the shortening’s for shrinkage down there? Everything is all truss packages here and come with sheeted dropped gables on flat over here then we stick frame our lookouts
I framed for 24 years and when I started out we were letting in diagonal 1 x 6 permanent bracing into a number of our interior bearing and non bearing walls. Then it went to metal T bracing and then as I started working on panel homes I didn’t even see that. I’ve gotten out of framing because of back issues and now I just repair homes. However on one occasion after the roof was sheathed and all of the braces were pulled I was standing in the middle of the hall in a doorway and was able to rock the whole frame side to side. I
That would never happen with a good old german half-timbered house built from solid oak. It’s strange that 300 years ago, more stable wooden structures were built than today, and without any screws, nails or other metal connectors, just classic carved wooden joints. Long live the noble craft of carpentry. 🤔😉
I worked on a framing crew back in the later 70s early 80s . We never framed the second floor until the bottom floor was sheeted. I now see new construction that frame the whole house before any sheeting is done? They built a Restaurant at the end of my road . They framed the top floor walls without any sheeting. I told my wife that’s a bad idea and what could happen. They went home for the weekend and Sunday night we had a wind storm the whole building came down . My wife asked why did I know that and they (professionals ) didn’t. 🫣🥴
Dude, you got the knack for this! I mean the vids and youtube and making stuff understandable. For civilians, the rookies and the leadmen. Lotta guys know exactly what your talkin about but could never articulate it as well as you do. THAT knack😁 As far as swingin hammers, you guys are as good as it gets. Anywhere. Id apprentice under you for two years at 10 bucks an hour just to soak up rules, tricks and tips. Keep em comin man, they are appreciated. Gives us old dudes someone to steer the youngers to as well. They wanna learn but get sick of hearin us hollerin at em so you can fill that gap
Good stuff, you guys in the pnw legit using 2.5x.131 (8d common)for all panel connections? In northern Utah the overwhelming majority use 2-⅜x.113 (8d box) or use a staple equivalency. But the different nomenclatures really make it all so diluted, it’s good the industry ius moving away from the number/letter system and just stating diameter and length.
A much better solution was screaming through the entire article….use screws, not nails. Look at all the collapse articles and see for yourself how the entire house is a bunch of really strong 2×4 sticks and they are all weakly connected… assuming that gravity will just sort of hold the entire thing. However shear walls are a great solution….if you just want to build something real quick and leave the place with money in your pocket. But if the same structure was screwed together, it would be slightly stronger. Considerably slightly stronger. It could survive much higher winds for example. The only downside is that it takes longer to install and people don’t understand hardening. You can’t use brittle screws. Those will snap right off. You gotta use construction screws that have been annealed to make them malleable. But beyond that, look at the articles! The roof structure was just fine and then suddenly it just disconnects. All that is left is 2x4s with nails coming out the ends. Well if we replaced all those dumb 6″nail connections with steel brackets, that would be way way stronger. You could make a large hexagonal house and just roll it down the hill if you wanted, it would stay connected. It bothers me that there isn’t such a connection system available to us the home Depot people.
Our house is sheathed with mostly gypsum board and low density fiberboard. It was built in 1980. Im trying to add shear strength to the unfinished garage and garage attic. I was planning to block between vertical studs with 2x4s at 45 degree angles before insulating. Does this sound good or is there a better way to approach?
Looking at how some homes are built in other States blows my mind. I would NO MORE raise an unsheathed wall than I would skip using nails. It makes absolutely no sense building a structure with just a frame. Even wind bracing won’t stop a building from falling down once the walls become out of plum. The weight of the walls and second story floors plus the roof rafters……….on and on!! You MUST SHEATH ALL EXTERIOR WALLS before putting them in place. That entire collapse shown could have been saved if the exterior walls had been sheathed. The amount of structural weight is completely solid if you sheath all walls as they are raised into place. What a shame that the entire structure collapsed over the omission of something so simple a task. I mean, sheathing a structure after it’s been framed is foolish and so time consuming. You have to stage the entire project in order to install the sheets of plywood. Sheathing the walls on the deck of the structure is so simple and saves thousands of dollars in labor cost. If your structure collapses because it wasn’t built structurally sound, your insurance will not cover the damage. I built 543 homes in my 40 year career as a builder /architect and NEVER did we ever take shortcuts on our frames. Our frames were outfitted with 12-16″ O. C. WALLS and ROOFS. sheathed with 5/8″ vex plyscore. All our walls had CONTINUOUS diagonal bracing with 2×4 or 2×6 As the frame required. All wall and floor joints were secured by Hurricane steel braces at all intersecting points.
What contractor allowed the second floor to be built without shear protection on the first floor?!? Also, temporary shear “protection” should be added to the inside of every single shear wall as it’s being built. I’ve always added permanent shear protection to any house prior to the second floor being built or the roof system being framed for a single story. How else does one expect a perfectly square & plumb house to be built? 😏 Those, so-called, framers are lucky those homes didn’t collapse on them while they were “framing” (?) them.
How about building a house with the appropiate wood width and thickness, instead of matches? I really don t understand the US in this aspect, i ve built chicken coops and wood storage sheds way way sturdier than your actual houses. The thin boards you use for structural walls here in Europe we use it just for flooring or decorative wall panelling.
Question for ya! I like the idea of vertical sheathing with a height that matches the wall height. I’m wondering about the downside of not overlapping the sheathing over your floor system to better tie the wall to the floor. Seems like you would need to shift the sheathing down in which case you end up needing blocking anyway (unless you just get into very large sheets. How do you normally handle sheathing of the floor system?
Basically,, with 60 years under my belt building. Shear walls, smear walls, that structure did not have an angle brace in the lot. there were no wooden let in braces, there were no metal let in braces, there were no solid block diagonals, there were no angled strong backs in the attic, the carpenters who put that together and the engineers that designed it were children, idiots who never sat in anything but a university classroom of cheated a client they were building for. Shear walls are essential,, for handling the point loads that must be addressed IN ADDITION to all the normal stresses.
Speaking of earthquake resistance – it drives me mad to see masonry construction (the worst choice for earthquakes) used quite extensively in earthquake zones. Haiti, Mexico City, Mediterranean, and so on. Literally millions die every decade due to cheaper local-sourced home materials. If only hurricane zone builders could swap materials with earthquake zone builders (economically).
If you build using pole barn construction, you won’t need any shear walls. Won’t need any headers either. Nor metal straps or ties and anchors. Nor screws, nail guns, compressors, or laser levels. None of that stuff. And it will be by far stronger than any modern day stick frame house ever though about being. Post and beam construction is hard to beat. But there are countless ways to construct a building. Far too many to name. And if you think the posts will rot then you’re mistaken. Simply coat the poles in liquid rubber and then you can either embed in concrete or not. Either way is fine. Will never rot. Not even toxic. Post and beam done right gives you the most bang for the buck and is a very versatile platform that can adapt to just about any place on earth. It is perhaps the oldest form on construction known to mankind. Even before stone was used. One man alone can build the entire structure himself and with simple tools and very quickly too. And it exceeds every code in the book as well. Not that that matters to a man like me, but to all you code humpers out there it might. I have no codes here where I live. To me it’s more important to build it correctly than to adhere to another U.S. corporate/government scheme. Remember, post and beam.
I feel like your exposing how poorly houses are built now days. You could use real wood between the 2x4s instead of plywood which has a life span of about nothing and is absolutely terrible for the environment. Your a great presenter but the ignorance of building disposable buildings leaves me too frustrated to finish perusal. 🙂
your collapse articles all show multi-story buildings erected without applied sheathing. only an idiot, and certainly no authentic carpenter would ever do this. you explanation is helpful for the same fools that would build these houses of cards. oh by the way, I’m sure you have been to some terrific seminars but you don’t look or sound like anyone who has actually framed a home or similar structure
@5:21, sorry, you blew it, and so did the structural engineer that commented on your article. You installed the panel incorrectly and missed a good opportunity to explain to people why. That panel should have been placed HORIZONTALLY, not vertically. The OSB has better compressive and tensile strength horizontally to oppose the racking forces you are talking about. You also engage more studs and you can stagger your seams avoiding any one stud from being involved along its entire length with double nailing. Sorry buddy, you got this part of your example wrong.