Continuity of Wall Segments in Wood Shear Walls

[dengebre]

I have a wood-framed apartment project where the framer wants to construct the shear walls in segments, and sheath them on the ground before lifting them in place. This introduces vertical seams into the shear wall. I understand that each wall segment will require an end stud and that the segments have to be fastened together to transfer the shear across the seam. My question regards the top plates and the sill plate: Do the horizontal plates need to be linked between wall segments for continuity?

 

[phamENG]

Yes. This can be done by only having a single top plate in the panelized wall with the second plate installed with the walls in place to stagger seams, or they can strap them together. In either case the connections would be based on the higher of your required chord or collector force, just like if it were built-in-place.

 

[KootK]

Agree with phamENG regarding the top plate.

No requirement for interconnection for the bottom plate. That said, the bottom plate will probably wind up effectively connected anyways by virtue of its fastening to a continuous element below the wall.

 

[JAE]

Just an observation on adding the second top plate later. Usually the panel sheathing is attached to both top plates to ensure adequate shear transfer to the overall "collector" system. If the sheathing stops at the top of the lower top plate then the latter, upper top plate should be properly nailed down to combine the two.

Also - Not sure of your dimensions but many times the height of the stud wall, bottom plate and dual top plates are coordinated with standard OSB or plywood sheet sizes (4'x 8' in the US) so something also to coordinate.