Diagonal Bracing Video

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com and I want to show you a couple of diagonal braces. These are very important and help to keep a structure square, so it doesn't collapse as you are building the home. Because there is a lot of weight and some crazy things can happen on windy days. Look at this.

This is a flat 2x4 that is nailed on the underside of the common roof rafters. It goes up at an angle all the way to the ridge beam. When it is nailed into each individual roof rafter, it helps keep those roof rafters nice and square.

Now look at this wall. This big wall is carrying a lot of the weight from the roof rafters. It is important that this wall doesn't collapse. This wall uses a piece of metal bracing that runs all the way from the bottom plate to the top plate. It is also nailed at each wall stud. This bracing is shaped like a letter "T" which makes it very strong. The way is it installed is the contractor strikes a chalk line from the two attachment points. Then where the line crosses a stud, the contractor will cut out notch for the leg of the "T" to fit flush with the stud.

Bracing - very, very important. Don't forget it on your home construction and don't let your builder do it without bracing where needed.