Effective Use of Drift Joints in Exterior CFS Walls

Horizontal drift joints in exterior facades have become a common practice for addressing the expected lateral drifts of building structures due to wind and seismic loads. The intent of these joints is to reduce damage to the exterior façade components during wind and seismic events. Unfortunately they are usually located by the architect and frequently not coordinated with other façade systems or even within the CFS wall system itself. This webinar addresses effective ways to use drift joints and common mistakes that occur with the use of drift joints in exterior CFS wall systems.

It will also cover the following topics:

• The various cold-formed steel drift joint assemblies being used
• How the joints do or don’t work with the exterior finish
• What happens at adjacent façade systems
• What happens at building corners and building offsets

Common problems that drift joints create with other architectural and MEP components. Examples are provided to illustrate these concepts including 2-D and 3-D diagrams.