In short: Frame fixings are small, cheap and structural. A bottom plate short of fixings and missing triple grips are both load path, and both vanish behind plaster.
The bottom plate
The bottom plate is where the frame meets the slab, and its fixings are how wind load gets from the roof into the ground. Short of its required fixings means that transfer is happening through fewer points than designed.
Triple grips at the truss tie down
Triple grips tie trusses to the top plate. Missing ones break the chain between roof and wall at exactly the connection that resists uplift. We have recorded them missing on Pakenham East builds.
Judge them together
Individually each looks minor. Together they describe a load path with gaps at both ends - roof to wall, and wall to slab. That is how a frame report should be read: as a system, not a list.
Written by our local inspection team from work carried out in Pakenham East. Licensed building practitioners.
