A non bearing interior wall with metal strapping-Why?
I want to put a pocket door in an interior wall (its not load bearing since its inline with the ceiling joists) but there is diagonal metal strapping on the wall that I uncovered.
I suppose the wall could be tied into the exterior wall somehow for structural purposes, but since there is so much 70’s workmanship (like aluminum wiring, drywall scrap in the walls, nothing level, etc.) in my house who really knows what the framer was up to.
Should I just get my sledge out and create my door opening, or might there be a legitimate reason for the strapping and I need to find another door type? There would be about 3′ of remaining wall if I do install the pocket door, so most of the strapping would be removed. In total the wall is about 7′ from ext wall to existing door.
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I suppose if it's teed to a long exterior wall it could be wind bracing (something I suppose there's call for in Utah). If that were the case you could move the strap to the other side of the door and be OK, so long as the header isn't interrupted.
If it's seismic bracing it's a different matter -- don't know what the considerations might be there.
Stuff like that doesn't usually happen for no reason at all. Current codes require some interior shear walls at intermediate points along a long exterior wall. So maybe it's something along those lines. Particularly if it is in line w/ the floor joists above.
EDIT ... clarification ... a non load bearing wall may still need to be a structural wall/element ... which is what I'm elluding to above. Either for wind and/or seismic shear resistance.
On my new house I had non bearing gable end walls that required shear sheathing at the corners, but no headers over the windows.