Cold Formed Steel Sheathed Shearwalls

[cab7320]

Quick question. The AISI 213 Lateral Design Doc gives tabulated values for 1/2" Gyp sheathing. My architect wants 5/8" gypsum. Can i use the 1/2" values?

I know sheathed system capacity is all about fastener slip in the sheathing, so i could see the added gyp thickness affecting these values. My instinct is that the capacity would be greater with thicker Gyp, just wanted to see what others thoughts might be.

THanks,

 

[jayrod12]

The wood code provides higher values for 5/8 gyp over 1/2" gyp so I feel using the 1/2" numbers would be conservative.

 

[MrHershey]

I've used thicker sheathing than required before and just used the values for thinner sheathing as conservative values. Just need to make sure you use the actual thickness to do any stiffness calcs you may need to run, as you want to make sure you're providing the strength for those walls to suck up all the load they'll actually see.