Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Re: Shear Wall Strength Reduction

you need to get a copy of the LA City building code....you should find it in there....

----- Original Message -----
From: ENGRLAINES@aol.com
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Shear Wall Strength Reduction
Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 17:14:40 EDT

My client would like to add a heavier tile roof to his 2-story, wood frame, type V house in the hills of Los Angeles. The second story addition 4-years ago included new plywood shear walls per the 1997 UBC and all evidently permitted. In reviewing the calcs of this addition, I note that the engineer took the Code shear wall values and multiplied them by .75. I cannot find the responsible engineer to query, and I cannot find a Code reference as to why the 25% reduction. These are seismic loads not permanent loads, and the Struc I panels are spec'd with common nails (15/32 Struc I w/ 8d Common @ 3" and 4"). What am I missing?

Charles Laines, S.E.





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