] [Thread] [Date] [Author]

[Lynn <lhoward(--nospam--at)silcom.com>]

I would be interested in knowing why the UBC and other Building Officials have not
adopted the LA City Standards.  I think the County of LA has a similar standard,
an the County of Ventura I think has also adopted some of the LA City provisions.
It seems to me that the City of LA is out of step with everyone else.

I thought that with time, all jurisdictions would have a similar Code regarding
plywood shear walls.  I am sure the ICBO and other Building officials have
considered these the LA City standards carefully.  But for some reason, very few
have chosen to adopted the LA City standard.

Is the City of LA just being extremely conservative with no real back up for their
position, or has the ICBO and other Building officials looked at the facts and
chosen to ignore the higher standard due to the heat they make take for it.

Any opinions would be welcomed.

Lynn



Roger Turk wrote:

> Ricardo,
>
> Were you retained not to piss off the other engineer or to give the owner
> your unbiased *professional* opinion about the structural adequacy of their
> proposed residence?
>
> I would explain in the report to the owner that, although what the other
> engineer has done is within what is permitted by the code, you do not design
> to those limits and that you do not recommend that residences be constructed
> using those limits based upon the Northridge experience.
>
> A. Roger Turk, P.E.(Structural)
> Tucson, Arizona
>
> Ricardo Arevalo wrote:
>
> For additional quality assurance purposes,a client has requested that we
> review plans performed by another engineer for his new residence in Santa
> Monica.Personally,since Northridge,we have used City of LA shear wall
> requirements for all projects in or near LA County.Our dilemna is that for
> this particular project,the engineer specified 3/8 inch Struct I plywood w/8d
> @ 2 in o.c. for studs at 16 in o.c. Thus under the 1994 UBC,this corresponds
> to a shear value of 730 plf which is almost quadruple that amount allowed by
> LA (200 plf).So although the design is legally correct for this
> jurisdiction,it just doesn't seem right.Do we have a legal or moral obligation
> to inform the owner and piss off the other engineer?Your feedback is
> appreciated.Thanks