Second Story Seismic Corner Bracing Above A Garage Door

A second story room addition above an existing garage can make a substantial change to your current home s curb appeal and of course create an increase to your living space.

Second story seismic corner bracing above a garage door.

Bracing amounts have been tabulated based on braced wall lines spaced apart by 35 up to a maximum 50 as permitted by the irc. This is calculated from standard costs for all of the. For that scenario a site built solution known as the narrow wall bracing method developed by apa the engineered wood association can be used to provide a braced wall as narrow as 16 inches. Garages are vulnerable areas in a house due to the large garage door opening.

For visual symmetry she centered double windows over the garage door and a gable end window over the window below. The examples above illustrate a portal frame solution with just one reinforced corner top two reinforced corners on a single garage door middle and two reinforced corners flanking a double garage door. Tim healey in a house design where some main walls may have many openings portal frames can be the key to providing code compliant wall bracing. Method pfg portal frame at garage door openings in seismic design categories a b and c.

1 inch 25 4 mm 1 foot 304 8 mm. Because of this large opening the narrow walls on either side of the garage door must be designed to resist earthquake forces. Braced wall panel r602 10 1 a braced wall panel is a section of a braced wall line that is braced with a code compliant bracing method e g let in brace a wood structural panel or. Average cost of adding a bonus room above a garage for all the reasons mentioned above the cost of finishing a bonus room above your garage can vary.

An engineer will need to verify that the garage s existing framing and foundation can bear the weight of an addition. The large opening of a garage door and the weight of a second story room built over the garage can result in the walls being too weak to withstand earthquake shaking. Make sure the structure is up to snuff before the house was expanded to include a garage addition. According to salter spiral stair the approximate cost of finishing the bonus room over your garage is approximately 35 per square foot.

But what about popular designs with a bonus room or second story above the garage. When the narrow sections of the wall on each side of the opening are not reinforced or braced the weakness is worse. However like all remodeling projects adding a second story addition has a broad range of complexity and challenges.