When designing a continuous tiedown system utilized for multiple stories, is it ok to skip floors (i.e. have non-restrained stories)?
Simpson does not support skipping story restraints. Third-party witnessed testing has shown that a building’s performance with skipped stories is significantly reduced when compared to a building which has a restraint at each level. Increased drift and a lack of system redundancy are inherent for skipped story systems. Additionally, stability problems may occur because elements at the restraint point have to resist the total cumulative loads for the entire system below it. Please contact Simpson for additional information or questions.
