## Abstract

Lateral shear resistance capacities of face-to-face single-staple and one-row vertically aligned multistaple joints in three oriented strandboards (OSB) were investigated and compared. Experimental results from testing single-staple joints indicated that the face strand orientation of OSB materials had no significant effect on their staple holding capacity in resisting lateral shear loads. The OSB-III with a density of 35.19 pounds per cubic foot (pcf; 563 kg/m3) had a significantly higher lateral shear resistance capacity than OSB-II, with a density of 29.12 pcf (466 kg/m3). Results of multistaple joints indicated that there was no significant difference in lateral shear load resistance capacities between OSB-II and OSB-III joints. The lateral shear load resistance capacity of multistaple joints increased significantly as the number of staples increased from two to four in increments of one. Two alternative power equations were suggested to estimate the lateral shear load resistance capacity of face-to-face one-row vertically aligned multistaple joints in OSB. One equation requires knowing the lateral shear resistance load of single-staple joints in an OSB material, and the other one requires knowing the density of the OSB material constructing the joints.