Staggered stud acoustical shear wall

[bnickeson]

A client of ours would like to use a staggered stud wall as an acoustical wall between apartment-style living spaces. This is the type of wood wall that uses staggered 2x4's, for instance, in a 2x6 width wall. The only structural issue is that essentially all of these types of walls in the structure are shear walls. Depending on the location in the country, they are sheathed on either one or both sides. I've looked almost completely through the IBC, NDS, and the NDS lateral literature and I can't find anywhere where they prohibit the use of a staggered stud wall for a shear wall, so I'm thinking it is OK to use it if the engineering works out.

All of these walls are interior walls so the only lateral loads will be the 5 psf nominal interior pressure. Also, all of our end posts in these walls will by full 2x6's so that they are latearlly braced on both sides. The walls are not load-bearing except for maybe a foot or two of tributary floor load and their own self-weight (three stories high). If needed, we can place 2x2 blocking at the mid-height of wall to at least somewhat brace the studs. Also, the plywood sheathing will be set vertically so that no blocking is needed at the top panel eldges.

Can anyone think of a reason or know of a code provision that would prohibit the use of these types of walls as shear walls?

Thanks.

 

[dcarr82775]

I don't have an NDS handy, but there is a maximum stud spacing for a shearwalls. You would need studs at every 8" to 12" to meet that requirement.

 

[bnickeson]

Correct, we would have the studs staggered at 8" o.c. for an effective spacing of 16". I believe the max spacing is 24".

 

[MiketheEngineer]

5 psf is almost nothing. While toothpicks might not work almost anything larger would...

 

[msquared48]

I have used this type of wall as a shearwall for many multi-family applications - go for it.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[bnickeson]

Great, thanks guys.