Interior shear wall above crawl space 1

[DoubleStud]

Lets say you have a wood shear wall that runs parallel with the floor joists above crawlspace. How would you transfer the load down to foundation?
1. Do you build foundation wall along this wall all the way to 2.25" below the plywood? (1.5" sole plate plus 3/4" ply)? This way the shearwall goes straight to concrete foundation.
2. Build foundation wall just 1.5" below the floor joist? What do you put in between?
3. Build continuous concrete footing and build wood shear wall on top of it in the crawlspace?
4. Other method?

I want to see what most engineers usually specify.

 

[XR250]

I usually just put a pier at each end of it to deal with the chord forces and let the subfloor take the shear.
If the load is not that high, I'll put an LVL under it and just tie that down at its ends. Then I will strap the chords to the LVL.

 

[Eng16080]

Options 1, 2, and 3 all seem reasonable to me. For option 2, I would probably use a beam equal to the shear wall width. It's hard to pick a favorite, and I think I've probably used all of them at some point.

XR250s method is another option, assuming there's a valid load path through the 1st floor diaphragm (which there likely is).

Overall, I look at the problem as having 2 parts:
[ol A]
[li]Provide a load path for the tension and compression forces at the ends of the shear wall. These forces can be resisted by columns, beams, direct support on foundation, etc.[/li]
[li]Provide a load path for the shear force from the shear wall. This can be accomplished by having another shear wall (or lateral force resisting element) directly below, or by transferring (dragging) the force into the floor diaphragm and then to whatever lateral force resisting element is supporting the diaphragm. In this case where the load path goes through the diaphragm, be sure to also account for any other shear forces acting on the diaphragm.[/li]
[/ol]

 

[jerseyshore]

I usually use an LVL or PSL beam below a shear wall that is offset or has no wall below. Usually pretty easy to just strap down to the beam as XR said. Then use a second strap or connector to hold down ends of LVL/PSL.

 

[DoubleStud]

You probably then need triple LVL to match the shearwall width? If only single, may be hard to make sure the shear transfer to down below from the shearwall bottom plate?

 

[jerseyshore]

I never use a single LVL, but yeah you'd use a double or triple LVL. More times than not I lean towards using PSL's in this case because they are solid width and better for nailing into the top. So just specify some 5.25" x PSL beam underneath and then specify the straps for the chord forces.