Liliya

[Liliya Robinson]

Should hurricane strapping be fully nailed?

[Jim Luttrall]

H Seismic and Hurricane Ties (http://www.strongtie.com/products/connectors/H.asp)

Since Simpson (the largest connector manufacturer) has hundreds if not thousands of connectors, you need to be more specific.
A picuture would help.

Generally, there are different shaped holes for different applications and fasteners. The appropriate holes need to be filled to acheive the rated capacity.
Find the specific connector and read the directions for proper installation.

[Jerry Peck]

In addition to what Jim said, you can install a stronger-than-necessary strap, then use only as many nails as needed.

I've seen some very large straps, with 5/8" anchor bolts holding them to the slab, and then half as many nails in the straps as the strap was designed for, but ... the engineering on the plans only specified that many nails - go figure, why not specify and use a smaller strap which only had the required nails?

The answer is that it all comes down to the engineering of the strap and what and where it is used.

However, if you are inspecting it and are questioning it, then write it up something to the effect of: Strap does not have all nails installed, provide engineering which shows number and size of nails required.

Chances are, it needs more of the wrong size nails which were installed (presuming the usual wrong size nails were used). ;)

[Jim Luttrall]

Here is a nailing guide from Simpson.
Round holes should always be filled with the appropriate nails unless otherwise noted.

http://www.strongtie.com/ftp/catalogs/C-2009/C-2009-p016-p017.pdf