Mission

Help Build Quality Homes

About the Developer

Hi, I'm Mike Fehling, the developer of the IRC Wall Bracing Calculator. I have a degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Wisconsin Madison with minors in Physics and Education. Software development is a skill I picked up along the way.

My primary area of expertise lies in physics and engineering mechanics for residential construction. Past experience includes technical manager and lead data analyst at the Center of Building Innovation (formerly SBCRI), a structural components laboratory based in Madison, Wisconsin that specializes in large-scale testing of shear wall systems. In this position I witnessed and analyzed the data of hundreds to thousands of shear wall tests featuring various materials, size, and configurations, including all of the prescriptive methods that are widely used today. In fact it was similar research and testing conducted decades ago that was used to establish the wall bracing requirements found in the building code. I have experience with the IRC, IBC, ASCE 7, NDS and SDPWS, AISI, ACI, FEMA P795, numerous ASTM and ICC-ES standards, and several regional building codes.