Chapter
Nov 2, 2022
Permanent Bracing for Wood Trusses: Why a Building in Snow Country Cannot Survive without It
Authors: Alice Roache, M.ASCE [email protected], and Theresa Ahlborn, Ph.D., M.ASCE [email protected]Author Affiliations
Publication: Forensic Engineering 2022
ABSTRACT
Section 2303.4.1.2 of the International Building Code requires the installation of permanent bracing on pre-engineered wood trusses to: maintain truss spacing, resist lateral loads, and prevent buckling of individual truss members. To meet this requirement, all three planes within the truss, the top chord, bottom chord, and web member, must be adequately braced as outlined in chapter three of the Building Component Safety Information (BCSI) Guide. In regions with heavy snow loads, bracing to prevent web member buckling becomes a critical, and easily neglected, component within a building’s structural system. This paper provides a review of permanent bracing requirements for wood trusses, illustrates a case study of the strength of an individual truss member where the strength is reduced by over 80% when bracing is either improperly installed or missing, and it discusses some of the indicators structural inspectors can look for to ensure their roof is properly braced while helping the building owner answer the question: “When should I shovel my roof?”
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REFERENCES
ASCE. (2014). Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures, Standard ASCE/SEI 7-16. ASCE, Reston, VA.
BSCI Guide. (2018). BCSI Guide to Good Practice for Handling, Installing, Restraining & Bracing of Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses, Structural Building Components Association, sbcindustry.com.
Lawson, J., Kam-Biron, M., and Perkins, B. (2020). “Used the Most, Taught the Least – An Analysis of Current Wood Engineering Education in U.S. Universities”, August 2020.
AWC (American Wood Council). Manual for Engineered Wood Construction (MEWC). (2018). American Wood Council, awc.org.
AWC (American Wood Council). National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS). (2018). American Wood Council, awc.org.
“RISA 3D” 19.0.1, RISA Tech Inc., 2020.
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Published online: Nov 2, 2022
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P.E.
1Project Engineer, OHM Advisors, Hancock, MI. Email: [email protected]
P.E.
2Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI. Email: [email protected]
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Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.