The American Wood Council’s (AWC) 2008 Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic standard was approved as an American National Standard designated ANSI/AF&PA SDPWS-2008. The new standard covers materials, design, and construction of wood members, fasteners, and assemblies to resist wind and seismic forces.

As an update to the SDPWS-2005 standard, notable new provisions of the SDPWS-2008 standard include criteria for wood structural panels designed to resist combined shear and uplift from wind. This will allow more efficient and economical construction of shear walls in high wind areas.

The SDPWS-2008 standard is approved as a reference standard in the 2009 edition of the International Code Council’s (ICC) International Building Code. Designers may begin using
provisions of the new standard pending approval by the authority having jurisdiction.

Electronic versions of the SDPWS-2008 standard are available for free download from the AWC website at www.awc.org.

For more information, contact Buddy Showalter at buddy_showalter@afandpa.org.