Construction recommendations contained in an APA tornado damage assessment report published last year were featured in a recent issue of Professional Builder magazine and on the publication’s Housing Zone web site.

Trade and consumer media coverage of the APA findings is part of the Association’s ongoing promotion of a site-built narrow wall bracing detail that supports the larger goal of fully sheathed walls. Developed by APA’s Technical Services Division, the detail not only satisfies existing code requirements, but permits builders to use even narrower wall segments next to openings if the house is fully sheathed in plywood or oriented strand board (OSB).

Technical Committees of the International Code Council (ICC) gave preliminary approval to the detail late last year, with final action scheduled for this spring. A new APA publication on the subject, entitled Narrow Walls That Work, also was recently published.