Ben29
Structural
- Aug 7, 2014
- 325
The below paragraph is mostly just a rant. My main question is: How do I attach the shear wall chords to the 18" thick stone foundation wall below the shear wall?
I have a contractor who gutted an existing brick rowhouse (circa 1900). This was done in conjunction with the "city revitalization" effort. While they were ripping the vegetation off of the rear brick wall, the rear wall collapsed. At this point, they call me up. I went down to the site and gave them a fee for providing structural documents to rebuild the wall. They said, great! but then they never paid my deposit, never signed my proposal, and never contacted me again. So I moved on.
A couple of months later they call me to come down and look at the job they did. I gave them an attitude about it, but all they did was act confused. I went down there again (I wish I didn't).
So here is the issue, they built a wood-framed wall where it used to be a brick wall. This wall is now a "shear wall" and the remainder of the house is open concept. The house is 12' wide x 45' deep. Per the code, I need to design this shear wall as if the remainder of the houses on the block fell down and this was the only house left standing. My question is, how do I resolve the uplift forces? How do I attach the shear wall chords to the existing 18" thick stone foundation wall?
I have a contractor who gutted an existing brick rowhouse (circa 1900). This was done in conjunction with the "city revitalization" effort. While they were ripping the vegetation off of the rear brick wall, the rear wall collapsed. At this point, they call me up. I went down to the site and gave them a fee for providing structural documents to rebuild the wall. They said, great! but then they never paid my deposit, never signed my proposal, and never contacted me again. So I moved on.
A couple of months later they call me to come down and look at the job they did. I gave them an attitude about it, but all they did was act confused. I went down there again (I wish I didn't).
So here is the issue, they built a wood-framed wall where it used to be a brick wall. This wall is now a "shear wall" and the remainder of the house is open concept. The house is 12' wide x 45' deep. Per the code, I need to design this shear wall as if the remainder of the houses on the block fell down and this was the only house left standing. My question is, how do I resolve the uplift forces? How do I attach the shear wall chords to the existing 18" thick stone foundation wall?
