Foam as sheathing, what about shear?
user-1140980
| Posted in General Questions on
How is shear addressed in the foam as sheathing detail? Are some walls sheathed but others not?
I didn’t see anything about this in the videos.
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David,
Here you go: 4 Options for Shear Bracing Foam-Sheathed Walls.
Or you may want try checking the code book, 2009 IRC, Section 602, Wood Wall Framing.
We looked into it and saw it as very promising but our codes here do not allow it. Seems that we live in a high earthquake zone and they won't allow the foam board by itself. Check with a local structural engineer in your area before moving ahead with it.. BTY we are near Portland Oregon and I've only felt one small tremor in 23 years in this area! .
Even an engineer in my area doesn't include diagonal 1x as shear. If I were to build 2x6 or 2x8 i could let in a 2x and do more of them. I really like the idea of skipping the sheathing, just slightly out of my comfort zone.
I'm in VT by the way.
You could look into the DOW SIS panels - these are structural foam panels - we have have good success with them for simple structures.
Another alternative to consider would be the Huber Zip R Sheathing rated at R6.6 for the 1 1/2" product ... although I understand from the installation instructions that it still requires some forms of shear bracing. Huber's sales manager has indicated that there will be some ESR report issued within the next few weeks on the products. See the following link to that product from their web-site: http://www.zipsystem.com/zip-system/rsheat.aspx
My "cutting edge" structural engineer is satisfied with just the sheetrock in a simple house.
Right, I should ask to see his calculations.
~15 years ago I saw them building a house on a golf course in Arkansas. No roof on yet, but they had sheetrock up on some inside walls. Only thing holding it up.
I've seen deck ledgers attached through 2x "squash blocks" into the framing, anyone have another option?