Live Load Reduction on Wood Stud Wall

[lutein]

Hi,
Just a general question -
1. Do you use live load reduction factor on multi story load bearing wood stud wall design?
2. For wood stud walls, since we always design the studs individually, for live load reduction tributary area, do you use 16" (stud spacing) x width or do you consider the full length of wall x width for the area?

Thank you all for your input.

 

[swivel63]

1. yes
2. i would think full length

 

[csd72]

swivel63,

I disagree,

Each stud is an individual member and has its own tributary area. The sharing effect between the studs is included in the timber code under the load sharing factor.

lutein,

I would never use live load reduction for stud walls.

 

[frv]

I second csd72.. statistically, there is a higher probability of an individual stud seeing the full live load.

 

[BAretired]

I agree with csd72 and frv.

BA

 

[JAE]

I agree with csd72, frv, and BAretired

 

[swivel63]

i defer to those who are more knowledgeable in this area, lol.

 

[lutein]

Thank you for the input.

 

[msquared48]

For what it's worth, count me in too.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering