Expertise Report (part 3 of 4)

Wednesday, 08 January 2020

(For complete explanation of the study and description of the building, please refer to the first article of this serie).

In this third part (3 of 4), we will discuss the economy which is at the level of the lateral load recovery system, that is to say the seismic load. The latter is influenced directly by its own mass. The use of Fermacell product would reduce the building mass by 13%. This reduction, explained by a lower dead load, would then reduce the wall jambs of the shear walls as well as the anchor brackets.

Also, using Fermacell product would have made it possible to use 2- 7/16 "OSB panels with an average nailing of 4‘’ instead of 3’’ in the NS direction.

Finally, the intensity of earthquake loads is directly related to the seismic site category (A to F). For this reason, the Fermacell product becomes more and more interesting as the seismic class is unfavorable. In this case study, the seismic class of the soil is of type D. A worse class would have allowed a greater saving related to the product.

To learn more, FREE download the Expertise Report (full version).