Overdrilled Top Plate - Need Guidance

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Tony Medaglia

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Hi All,

Apologies up front for the ignorance and a NooB post, but I made a dumb mistake and hope you can help me to fix it.

In an attempt to drill through the top plate on a lower-level (2-story) exterior wall to run some cabling, I drilled holes too close to each other and too close to the edge of the plate. The holes are above a stud bay that is 10-3/4" wide (12-1/4" on center) with the stud on the left being a normal one and the one on the right being a king stud next to a window. There are two floor joists above the area, but both are OUTboard of the two studs--therefore, no direct weight on the area that was drilled.

My thought was to use two Simpson CTS-218's to strap the area and reinforce--will this suffice? I'm obviously in over my head at this point but I want to ensure that I haven't compromised the frame of the house. Thank you for any guidance/advice/reassurance you can provide.

65860974483__AFC0438C-3005-43F3-9400-54CE7FA86195.jpeg
 
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wwhitney

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It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but I would say if the cross sectional area has been reduced by 50% or more, the strap required by the code section I cited should be installed, since it is an exterior wall. Unless the exception applies.

Cheers, Wayne
 

Tuttles Revenge

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Use the guide that Wayne linked to.. big strap over the 2 framing members that will reinforce the plate and protect the piping..

Framing is intentionally over built to allow a large amount of Ooops and not compromise the structure.
 

Jeff H Young

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agree it probebly needs a strap but hardly a serious thing. I dont know how many hundreds of walls we cut through both plates for a 3 inch stack withn nothing but a 4 nail strap basicaly for nail holes times have changed though . and what I see there wouldnt concern me. if someone never worked in construction they might be scared but its nothing compared to what Ive seen by hundreds or thousands. over my career
 

Reach4

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I am not a pro. I would think about putting a single hole, or holes as needed into a new board, and glue and screw below the existing one. Needed? I don't think so, but you would have a really strong setup... you would feel better, and it is within your abilities.
 

Tony Medaglia

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I am not a pro. I would think about putting a single hole, or holes as needed into a new board, and glue and screw below the existing one. Needed? I don't think so, but you would have a really strong setup... you would feel better, and it is within your abilities.

This is exactly what my original plan was, but I'd like to do what's best for both strength and code compliance. Thank you!
 

wwhitney

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The top plate is only securing the tops of the studs. It is NOT doing anything to support the structure.
That overlooks a couple functions of the top plate:

- When joists/rafters above are not lined up with the studs, the double top plate transfers the gravity load laterally to the adjacent studs.
- In the lateral force resisting system, the top plate is often one of the boundary members of a shear wall segment and may be part of the load path for lateral loads to be connected to that shear wall segment.
- Probably something else I don't know as I'm not a structural engineer.

Cheers, Wayne
 
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