I am gutting and removing all exterior and interior walls on my 1/2 top
floor completely and going with a full story.

My question is this.

When the exterior walls are built by the contractor, is it normal to just
nail the exterior walls into the top (header maybe) of the main floor walls?
I am wondering if this is typical and enough strength wise since I live in
the east coast of Canada and we often get high winds (tail ends of
Hurricanes - 90 - 130 km/hr) during hurricane season. We actually were hit
directly by Hurricane Juan (Cat 1 - 2) and last hurricane season
(summer/fall of 07) we had wind gusts from a tropical depression up to 130
km/hr.

I am wondering if the exterior walls should be bolted down with a big type
of lag bolt. Is just nailing the exterior walls typical and enough strength
wise?

"H. Reno" wrote in message

When the exterior walls are built by the contractor, is it normal to just
nail the exterior walls into the top (header maybe) of the main floor
walls?
I am wondering if this is typical and enough strength wise since I live in
the east coast of Canada and we often get high winds (tail ends of
Hurricanes - 90 - 130 km/hr) during hurricane season. We actually were
hit
directly by Hurricane Juan (Cat 1 - 2) and last hurricane season
(summer/fall of 07) we had wind gusts from a tropical depression up to 130
km/hr.

I am wondering if the exterior walls should be bolted down with a big type
of lag bolt. Is just nailing the exterior walls typical and enough
strength
wise?

It has worked like that for the past 100 years or so, but add lags if you
wish

On Wed, 7 May 2008 09:00:08 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

H. Reno wrote:
I am wondering if the exterior walls should be bolted down with a big type
of lag bolt. Is just nailing the exterior walls typical and enough strength
wise?

There are building codes to follow and building inspectors to make
sure they're followed. If this construction is up to code, then it's
fine. If the inspector fails it, then it will be redone properly.

Who makes sure the inspectors are honest? After Hurricane Andrew; it
became obvious to investigators that county inspectors has "greasy
palms". Numerous inspectors were indicted.

OP might want to look at the new hurricane codes in South Florida.