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In this series, we walk you through building a fully connected lateral load path for your projects. You’ll trace lateral loads from the initial wind pressure through the diaphragm and all the way into your final shear wall design. This video series uses a San Francisco–based project to demonstrate a four-part workflow showing how load linking keeps your design consistent and code compliant.
Why link loads? Instead of manually copying values between wind, diaphragm, and shear wall calculators, link them. When you change wind speed or building geometry in one place, all linked calculations update automatically, keeping your design consistent and compliant.

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Introduction

Overview of the lateral load path workflow

Part 1: Setting up wind load calculations

Project defaults, envelope procedure & linking to diaphragms

Part 2: Creating a diaphragm calculator

Link wind loads to diaphragm & tributary height

Part 3: Designing your shear wall

Link diaphragm to shear wall & member selection

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Introduction: Load linking

This overview introduces the lateral load path workflow: tracing loads from wind pressure through the diaphragm and into your shear wall design.

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Part 1: Setting up wind load calculations

After setting your project details, go to Project Defaults to configure parameters. This video covers:
  • Building Code: Select the edition applicable to your project
  • Geo-location: Enter the address to extract wind speed from the site map
  • Wind load calculator: Add a new calculation, select the envelope procedure (required for linking)
  • Building properties: Width, length, roof type, roof height
  • Linking to diaphragms: Load Case 1 (wind perpendicular to ridge) vs Load Case 2 (wind parallel to ridge)

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Part 2: Creating a diaphragm calculator

With wind pressures calculated, create a diaphragm calculator to see how loads move through the building. Key steps:
  • Add diaphragm calculator: Search for “diaphragm” and create a new calculation
  • Link wind loads: Use the link button to connect your wind calculator; select the zone pressure that applies to your design (e.g., edge or corner zones for conservative values)
  • Tributary height: Automatically extracted from Project Defaults (midpoint-to-midpoint of adjacent walls); override if your framing differs

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Part 3: Designing your shear wall

Complete the lateral load path by designing the shear wall that receives diaphragm loads. Key steps:
  • Add shear wall calculator: Search for “Shear Wall” and create a new calculation
  • Link shear force: Instead of typing manually, click the link button and select your diaphragm → Wall Line 1
  • Structural parameters: Story height and number of stories (extracted from Project Defaults); sheathing and studs are selected via the member selector
  • Member selection: Use the member selector with quick visualization of section performance
  • Hold-down design: If capacity fails, adjust hold-down or nail spacing
See it in action: Change the wind speed in Project Defaults, and all linked calculators (wind, diaphragm, shear wall) update automatically. No manual re-entry required.

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Check out more onboarding videos

Calcs.com Overview – Tools and Navigation

Philosophy, traffic lights, Member Selector, link loads and more

How to use Project Defaults

Set global rules for your design

How to Organize Your Projects on Calcs.com

Organizing projects, folders & calculations

Linking loads and reactions between calculators

Load path tracking & load linking

How project defaults work

Set global rules for your design

How to design a wood shear wall

US wood shear wall guide

How to use the diaphragm analysis calculator

Diaphragm calculator guide