As lumberyards continue to recover from pandemic-related supply issues, there’s been an ever-increasing shortage of building materials, creating many challenges for building contractors. These shortages have impacted availability of wood structural panel sheathing and, as a result, our field engineers and sales team have received many questions about potential alternative solutions to meet the wall bracing provisions within the International Residential Code (IRC). Simpson Strong-Tie Branch Engineer Silvia Dyer has researched these provisions and compiled this useful information for our team. At Simpson Strong-Tie, customer service is one of our top priorities. Our engineering team is always available to discuss your wall bracing situations and to help you investigate unique wall bracing solutions. Read Silvia’s research and suggestions below.
Author: Silvia Dyer
Silvia has been part of the Simpson Strong-Tie engineering team for 7 years. Since April 2019, she has been a member of the Branch Engineering team in McKinney, TX, where she focuses on helping customers in the Southeast as well as Central and South America. She has an extensive background in residential, commercial, and industrial facilities with over 17 years of design experience of which 5 years was industrial experience in power plants in Texas. Her previous roles within Simpson Strong-Tie include Field Engineer and R&D Engineer for Concrete products. She is a registered professional engineer in Texas and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The University of Texas at Austin. She is also the Past-President for the Austin Chapter of the Structural Engineers Association of Texas. She provides no equal support on Simpson Strong-Tie's product lines to customers as well as builds relationships with design professionals, specifiers, and major contractors by providing solutions that help design and build safer, stronger structures.