All buildings, whether one-story or multi-story, must be able to withstand and transfer lateral forces generated by wind or seismic events. This is done by transferring the forces from the roof and floor levels down to the soil below the foundation. To ensure the safety of the occupants and the structural integrity of the building, there must be a continuous load path. This means that all parts of the structural system, including roofs, floors, beams, columns, load-bearing walls, connections, and footings, must be interconnected. The load path is often carried by components such as shear walls, roof/floor diaphragms, frames, or a combination of these, which transfer the forces from the point of origin to the foundation.
A shear wall is commonly used in buildings made of wood frame, reinforced masonry, reinforced concrete, etc., to resist lateral forces parallel to the plane of the wall (i.e. in-plane forces). Shear walls are designed to resist uplift (wind) and overturning (wind and/or seismic) forces. The traditional wood-frame shear wall system includes various types of straps and holds downs. Because of issues related to wood shrinkage, building settlement, and growing trends towards designing and building multi-story structures, alternative shear wall systems with threaded rod, threaded rod plus shrinkage compensation device, prestressed cable, etc. are developed and are widely used in the wood frame industry.
QuickTies™ are used to resist uplift loads from the roof system, shear at the bottom plate, and overturning forces at the ends of shear walls. When QuickTies™ are used, it is possible to omit all straps and construction hardware between the double top plates on the uppermost floor to the sole or sill plate on the lowest floor. Hurricane clips attaching the double top plate to the trusses must remain, however. A single QuickTie™ installed between the double top plate of the uppermost floor and the foundation serves adequately as a hold-down for any shear wall. It replaces one hold down on the lowest floor and straps between floors at the second floor and third floor. QuickTies™ are designed to securely anchor the top plate of the uppermost floor to the foundation. QuickTies™ are made of 7×19 type galvanized aircraft wire rope with factory-installed threaded studs swaged at each end.
QuickTies™ are attached to the foundation with mechanical or chemical anchor attachments and the top plate using steel plates or special washers and threaded hex nuts. The bottom end of the QuickTie™ is anchored to the foundation by drilling a hole through the treated lumber sole plate into the concrete slab/foundation and inserting the threaded stud into the hole after it has been cleaned and filled with a special QuickTie™ Epoxy adhesive. The correct embedment of the threaded stud is easily verified by measuring the length of the threaded stud protruding above the top of the treated lumber soleplate. Also protruding above the top of the sole plate is the excess epoxy from the hole into the concrete. The protruding epoxy indicates that the threaded stud is completely encased from the bottom of the hole in the concrete to the top of the treated lumber soleplate. This is extremely important because the threaded stud is now isolated against the corrosive effects of the treated lumber on unprotected steel.
• QuickTies™ are flexible and elastic
• Each QuickTie™ is manufactured to the exact length required for its intended location in the field
• QuickTies™ are installed only by factory trained and licensed installers
• By pre-stressing to a design load for 115 – 215 mph winds, QuickTies™ are designed to allow zero movements until the forces applied, (wind or seismic) reach the pre-stress load. That’s why QuickTies™ keep your home “Stronger in the Storm.”™ They simply cinch the top plate to the building’s foundation!
• QuickTies™ are easy to inspect. At installation, the pre-stress load exceeds the design load. Therefore, “proof testing” each QuickTie™ when installed, and not during a storm!