APA-The Engineered Wood Association has launched a free online Wall Line Bracing Calculator that eases the burden of interpreting wall bracing requirements, and streamlines the process and bringing designers, builders and building departments onto the same page.
As many JLC readers know, the rules for bracing against wind pressures got way complicated (see "Bracing Walls for Wind," July 2013). The 2006 IRC devoted a scant eight pages to wall bracing, and by 2009, that section of the code (R602.10) had ballooned to 30 pages. An effort to simplify the 2012 version still left Section R602.10 with 27 pages of wall bracing rules.
The APA Calculator is a further effort to make the calculations for the required length of bracing and applying adjustment factors easier.
