sill plate to concrete slab

[kennyb04]

The Wind and Seismic Provisions gives anchorage requirements for shear walls to concrete foundations for commercial buildings. Are there any requirements in the commercial code anywhere for bearing walls that are not shear walls or for non-bearing walls? Can bearing walls be shot to concrete with Powder Actuated Fasterners or do all structural walls need actual anchor bolts?

 

[jayrod12]

If there is going to be no lateral load on the walls, then I don't see why they couldn't be shot to the foundation.

However that being said, I have on multiple occasions reviewed instances in commercial buildings where the bottom of partition walls, that were powder actuated fastened to the slab, end up displaced by one reason or another that could've been avoided by a real connection to the floor slab. Even tapcon screws give me a better feeling than powder actuated fasteners. So I only allow those to be used in extremely low risk scenarios.

 

[phamENG]

Be careful in your selection of PAFs. There are some that are great for wood and others that are terrible. As long as you use the ones that are designed for use in wood to concrete applications (length, washer, etc.) and design the quantity and spacing accordingly then you'll be okay.

The timing is also important. If the concrete hasn't cured sufficiently, the PAFs won't have the listed capacity.

I've met contractors who think it's okay to lay sole plates on concrete as soon as its stiff enough to walk on and shoot nails with a pneumatic nail gun...