Exterior Wall Framing 1

[noengr123]

The IRC specifies exterior walls to be continuous from diaphragm to diaphragm. I have a framing situation where the exterior wall is 20' tall from slab to the 2nd floor ceiling (entry foyer open up to 2nd floor ceiling) and the wall studs are not continuous. Does anyone have any experience with this type of issue or any methods to retrofit the wall to as opposed to rebuilding?

Thanks,

 

[phamENG]

My preferred solution is cutting the plates at the hinge, putting in full height studs, and fastening to the existing studs. The existing plates at the hinge turn into mid-height blocking.

Some people use straps, but fastener slip can be problematic and you could still end up with cracking in drywall if the winds are strong enough.

 

[noengr123]

Thanks phamENG I was hoping that someone was familiar with this situation and could recommended a fastener or connector that is suitable for this condition as I see this often in older 2-story homes.

 

[phamENG]

No problem. I'm on the Atlantic Coast and I've seen enough of these fail at service level wind loads that I'm pretty hard nosed about the repairs. Some other users on here live inland where service level winds are a lot lower/infrequent and they don't see issues with it. For that sort of circumstance, just putting in straps to ensure there's no failure at design loads could be a reasonable approach.

 

[gte447f]

phamENG, what types of failures have you seen? Serviceability (e.g., drywall cracking), or worse?

OP, I like phamENG's suggestion to cut the plates and retrofit with full length studs sistered to existing studs. Assuming this is all already uncovered and you can get 20' studs, it doesn't seem that much harder to do than anything else.

 

[jayrod12]

I've seen the knuckle installed in a few situations. In all of them, I could make the wall move in and out with minimal effort. Drywall cracking was the first evidence, cracking in the exterior finishes as well. And just the fact that in a good wind storm, I guarantee the wall was visibly moving.

 

[phamENG]

gte - mostly serviceability, but there were one or two end wall failures that came through my last firm. They didn't fully collapse, but I wouldn't want to sit on the couch next to them...

We're on the coast, so most of them are concentrated on the beach.

 

[gte447f]

phamENG, good to know. Thanks.