Perforated Shear Walls With Conventional and Innovative Base Restraint Connections
May 1999 (38 pages)
May 1, 1999
Between one and two million new homes are built in the United States each year, predominantly with wood framing. For this reason, energy efficient utilization of our lumber supply is important. Ideally, the residential construction industry wants to build stronger, safer buildings that can withstand hurricane and earthquake loads while at the same time using material and labor resources more efficiently. In order to accomplish this goal, the actual performance of these structures must be better understood from an engineering standpoint. The report goes on to explain a) what exactly shear walls are and b) explaining the financial side of the shear walls versus wall bracing methods (used historically in conventional construction).