Point load all day long.
If it's flexible, the diaphragm deflection will be sufficient to dump the vast majority of it into the closest shear walls.
If it's rigid, the point load will more accurately capture any local torsional effects at that level.
Nobody said you were. But a bunch of houses in the middle of a nearly 300,000 acre fire are far from indicative of "normal" fire conditions.
Well. Fires are hot. So I'll give you that.
Nowhere in the OP did they indicate anything had yielded. Based on the tone and wording, I'd bet TRAK...
So based on this single data point, you're going to say that all foundations are immediately useless if any part of the superstructure suffers fire damage?
Good call. I flipped them around. Even so, I wouldn't mess with it. Under a hot tub could well be considered an extreme environment. Chlorine treatment in hot tubs is very common, and water splashes out and around all the time. Now if just sits there and is never used, maybe not a problem...
This.
I don't like stiffeners very much because the connection is so often lags or through bolts down into wood below. So there's no room for stiffeners.
Agreed. I was just curious if you remembered the code. Would come in handy when I tell people to attach things that they haven't had to attach before...
If the engineers designing don't do their jobs, perhaps....
Where XR practices, seismic loads will be of very minimal concern.
Where is that, exactly? I've always done it because it makes sense to do it, but nobody has ever been able to point me to a specific place in the code where such a...
I wholeheartedly disagree. The stud is a crucial part of that load path, unless you have sheathing with no horizontal joints. Possible in a single story building, not in anything larger. If this is between floors, you either take the uplift from the stud into the strap and into the stud...
Lots of houses built that way, but you're right - not great. If this is a "normal" house - 3/2 and less than 3,000sf, you're probably okay as long as you're not up on the top of a hill or ridge - but the only way to know is to run an analysis.
Do you have code enforcement in the area? If...
Sounds like a terrible idea. Water goes through brick veneer. That's why there's a vapor barrier on the face of the wall between the sheathing and the brick. Now you're going to have roof framing (probably untreated) in that moist space. And where does the water go at the bottom? Did the...
Why would you need brick? Most double wall scenarios use a pair of structurally independent, one hour rated walls with insulation and burn-away clips between them.
On second thought, it's probably easier to convert to a double light frame fire wall. Strip the exterior sheathing off of the original, install 5/8" type X gyp, h-clips with insulation, and then build the wall of the new unit. Then you have structurally independent walls with the necessary...
