Strongback Bracing
Question:
I am looking for strongback bracing requirements for a 12 in. deep residential floor system with trusses in lengths up to 19 ft. Can the strongback bracing end at a truss without tying into an end wall? For instance, can three trusses of a type be tied together by strongbacks, then the next series of different trusses be tied together without having to be tied back to the previous type of trusses?
Answer:
Strongbacks can be interrupted at transitions in the floor framing. The strongbacks should be restrained to solid framing whenever possible. If not, then you may want to consider tying the brace off with a diagonal brace, much like lateral bracing is tied off with diagonal bracing to provide triangulation of the system. For more information on bracing parallel chord trusses, see SBCA’s BCSI-B7 Summary Sheet.
