Buildrite Fiberboard Shear Walls

[Loui1]

Has anyone had any experience using fiberboard sheathing for shearwall construction? Our design build contractor is pushing it because it's so cheap, but I also see they have to nail/staple the hell out of the panels to get a normal capacity of about 250 lb/ft. Any experiences would be appreciated.

 

[woodengineer]

I prefer 7/16” OSB, (Method 3) over using fiberboard (Method 4) of IRC 602.10.. Fiberboard performs poorly it inevitably becomes wet during construction. Additionally, builders tend to over drive the pneumatic nails/staples thus rendering the sheathing essentially useless. I specify Method 3 specifically R602.10.5 continuously sheathed. This method gives the architect more flexibility with aperture sizes and spacing. The minimum 4’ panel length may be reduced to 24” when the adjacent opening is 65% of the wall height (for an 8’ plate height). Section 602.10.5 discusses these reduced panel sizes for other wall heights. In addition, there are significant reductions to percentage of braced wall line requirements using this method (see R602.10.1)

I hope you found this useful.


Jordan

 

[RARWOOD]

Always remember the code is a minimum standard. Under ideal conditions properly installed the fiberboard would provide the code shear values.

In Minnesota it is very common to use drywall to provide all the lateral bracing for multi-family buildings. I've used drywall when I was required too. However if the choice was mine, I would always use OSB or Plywood.

Personally I would not use fiberboard on a project where I was required to seal the plans. When I am required to seal drawings I want to be able to specify the level of protection in order to limit my liability to a level acceptable to me.