ABSTRACT
In domestic construction, the vast majority of floors are of wood – almost universally so above the lowest storey. Along with partitions, they have a contribution to make to the overall structure of a dwelling above ground level by reason of their self-weight and imposed loads from furniture and occupants, being supported on some of the external walls that, in turn, benefit from the very necessary restraint they provide. Little attention, however, was ever paid to the aspect of providing restraint to the other walls of a dwelling until the 1960s. Accordingly, it was only those walls that supported the ends of floor joists which received the benefit of restraint. Walls parallel to the run of floor joists in many dwellings built before that time were left without any restraint at all. This often resulted in those walls developing the leans and bulges, even in two-storey dwellings, described in Chapter 11.
