What is your contex for stagger? The information that SlideRuleEra is directing you to, relates to the design of the fasteners.
Just as in steel design if two parallel rows are close togther with close bolt spacings they may behave like a single row.
In addition to the material that SRE has listed you also may want to look at Section 10.3.6 Group Action Factors in the NDS.
When I specify two rows to be staggered what I usually want to see are the fastner in one row spaced at 12" o.c. and the second row also spaced at 12" o.c. with the first fastener in the second row starting 6" from the fastener in the first row.
The problem with calling for two rows staggered is it assume that the installer will provide the proper spacing between the two rows so that they can be designed as one seperate row.
"When I specify two rows to be staggered what I usually want to see are the fastner in one row spaced at 12" o.c. and the second row also spaced at 12" o.c. with the first fastener in the second row starting 6" from the fastener in the first row."
That was the answer I was looking for. Thank you RARSWC.
"When I specify two rows to be staggered what I usually want to see are the fastner in one row spaced at 12" o.c. and the second row also spaced at 12" o.c. with the first fastener in the second row starting 6" from the fastener in the first row."
That may be what RARSWC means but it is not with I typically mean. Usually when I am specifing staggered connectors, I am not specifing them at a connection but rather, I usually am refering to a connection over the length of two or more beam members
It sounds like there may (should) be a convention for how to best indicate this. (I haven't looked at SRE link yet)
What I found works best is to do a little detail and show the desired spacing. What I find in practice is that most engineers don't do a detail but instead just call for two rows a 12" o.c. staggered. I see this a lot for ledger attachments.
A common example I see is to call for two rows of 3/4" expansion bolts spaced 12" 0c and staggerd to attach a 2x6 ledger. There is just enough room to do that in a 2x6.
I always liked to show a simple detail for the spacing of sill anchors for the bottom plate attachment. I seen the anchors called out with 18" oc spacing where a single anchor was used for a 30" long sill plate.
One problem is so much of construction requires good workmanship in the field. In the past a good builder would put in an extra anchor bolt. Where too day every project is nickled and dimed to death. A single anchor bolt would be left out just to say $3.00.
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