Abstract: In a wall construction comprising a pair of top plates, a bottom plate and plurality of parallel joists connected between the top and bottom plates, a wall brace is secured in a plurality of aligned saw kerfs to increase the load carrying capability of the wall structure. The brace includes a substantially U-shaped base portion and a pair of side flanges extending normal to the base portion such that the brace is substantially T-shaped in cross section. The brace is specifically designed so that the moment of inertia about the major axis (an axis aligned in the direction of the base) is greater than the moment of inertia about the minor axis (an axis aligned in the direction of the flanges). The preferred construction of the wall structure assures that failure of the brace upon overloading of the wall structure is caused to occur within the plane of the wall.

Abstract: A metal cross support is provided for use with a wooden truss structure of the type having a plurality of spaced wooden truss elements with a wooden stringer extending across at least one end of the truss elements and generally perpendicular thereto. A narrow and transversely extending channel is formed in each truss element so that the channels are in alignment with each other. The cross support comprises an elongated strip having a portion which is insertable into the aligned channel so that upon insertion, the metal strip is frictionally attached to the wooden truss elements. In addition, an overlapping portion at at least one end of the metal strip lies in a horizontal plane, abuts against and is attached to a corresponding horizontal surface.

Abstract: An improved connector plate is provided for securing abutting wooden truss members to one another. The connector plate comprises a metal sheet and at least one pair of prongs integrally formed with the sheet by punching the prongs outwardly from the sheet. The prongs form an elongated slot in the sheet having a reduced central portion wherein the prongs break apart from each other at the reduced central portion of the slot when the prongs are punched to thereby form a relatively dull point for each prong.