Hmmm something I can get my teeth into
As far as schooling goes I am an Architectural Design Technologist - fancy words for an architectural draughtsman, with a major in building construction and minor in casework. I am also a licensed building contractor (inter-provincially licensed), and have built a fair amount of walls in my lifetime
What Bill has done will be fine for a temporary application - although I am one who would much rather build a temporary wall that can be re-purposed into a permanent wall when all is said and done. There are a few areas that would need attention and I am sure that Bill is aware of them.
Boss Hog wrote:Yes Bill stand it up, It may not be important but it is the strongest way. I am sure a contractor is a member of the board somewhere and I feel that he or she will agree with me.
David, sorry I cannot agree with you. Standing sheets up is totally wrong! There is no stability there and definitely will not prevent racking. As Bill did, laying the 4x8 sheet longitudinally ensuring that the sole plate and bottom edge of the OSB are parallel and ensuring that the lateral factory edge is perpendicular to the floor will help ensure that the wall itself is square. To verify - basic Pythagorean theory will prove that. Each succeeding sheet on the first row should but perfectly to the first sheet and the longitudinal factory edge should be perfectly parallel to the sole plate. The sole plate may need shimming between the existing concrete if the floor is not level. The next sheet on the second row should also be laid longitudinally but may only overlap a maximum of 1/2 of the sheet. Each succeeding sheet on each layer above the first layer needs to be offset/staggered. This prevents racking.
Chris:
CapeCodCubs wrote:It will also help to square the wall up. Not a contractor but am a structural engineer...David is correct. This wall also will act as a shear wall to prevent the barn from racking if installed properly. If it is temporary then do whatever...
Same thing, sorry cannot agree entirely with your statement. The wall will indeed act as a shear wall, will also have some compressive strength although limited without the double studs. However this wall will provide little deflective prevention and could belly if there is too much racking or compressive stress. It should also have a double top plate which would add greatly to it's inherent strengths especially in deflection. Orientating the sheets vertically instead of horizontally will actually take away stability and probably will in many cases contribute to the wall being out of square and will definitely encourage racking instead of preventing it.
We had an old trick to demonstrate this back when I was a smoker. A large pack of cigarettes measured 3" on the vertical edge and 4" on the horizontal edge. Diagonally this measured 5" -- hmmmmm sounds a lot like a Pythagorean situation. Vertically the pack would flex, horizontally the pack would flex substantially less (this is an unsupported example as in not fastened to anything, but does serve the purpose for those who need to see things physically, it also helped apprentices understand the application of the math they learned but could not apply it in the real world).
Watch a good reputable framing/sheathing contractor and they will prove my point. Same with watching a good reputable dry-waller and see how they install drywall. Same way, horizontal orientation and staggered joints.
Much of what I learned in theory in school had to be re-evaluated once in the field and actually building what someone designed. This is where my apprenticeship in furniture/casework and building construction was useful as I studied design. Also having a minor in building construction concurrently with my design major really impressed upon me the absolute value of practical field experience for someone involved in design. Many journeyman/master tradespeople will no doubt agree with this.
