Ok, so we had a pretty significant windstorm today, and I went out to my garage for a minute to grab some firewood and I noticed that the wall that was being directly hit by the wind was flexing more than a few inches!!! The garage isn't more than 10 years old so its not like its an old shed or anything. Is there anything that I can do to fix this? Or to re-enforce the walls?
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Weak walls
- Thread starter thomasjw4
- Start date
cyamaha2007
Well-known member
How tall how wide 2x4? 2x6? What way was it bowing? Was the building racking or just flexing in middle of a wall section?
PapaD
Well-known member
My shop in progress had a sililar problem. Ten ft walls and another 5 to the peak. You could push on it (28ft gable end) and see the flex. Ran 2x4s inside the scissor trusses from one end to the other and put two 14 ft 4x4s 8 ft apart from the pad up to the truss. No more flex.
Kevin C
Well-known member
Until I put the attic floor in mine, I noticed that the end walls had a bit of give. The floor acts like a giant sheer panel that transfers the forces on the end walls to the side walls.
You have a hinge point in your wall. The gable was not a scissor like the other trusses. You need to add framing from bottom wall plate all the way to the top google scissor truss and hinge point and you will get a few ideas for fixes
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. On a long solid wall with no windows or doors, you have nothing but 2x4's running up and down, that wall in a big wind is going to flex some. I have one wall that is nothing but a solid wall. It will flex some when we get 40+mph gust. Winds like that can uproot trees in wet weather or snap limbs when the leaves are full.
Are the inside of the walls finished off? If not, cover that wall in plywood or OSB and run the sheets horizontally. Insulate before you do it just to have it done though. The OSB and even drywall will strengthen the wall up. Even though you have T1-11 on the outside, the sheets are running top to bottom where you don't have the strength. Horizontal mounting of OSB or drywall gives you the strength.
And if it's been there for ten years, this isn't the first time it's happened.
Are the inside of the walls finished off? If not, cover that wall in plywood or OSB and run the sheets horizontally. Insulate before you do it just to have it done though. The OSB and even drywall will strengthen the wall up. Even though you have T1-11 on the outside, the sheets are running top to bottom where you don't have the strength. Horizontal mounting of OSB or drywall gives you the strength.
And if it's been there for ten years, this isn't the first time it's happened.