Engineered In-house: Solving the Bracing Problem in Open-plan Builds

Open-plan living, bigger glazing and wider openings are what clients are asking builders for, and they land as a problem on the fabricator's bench. The more glass and the fewer internal walls a design has, the less wall is left to brace, and the harder it gets to meet racking requirements without reaching for a steel portal or filling narrow sections with sheet bracing that was never built for the job.

Meyer Timber has spent more than a decade engineering a better answer. Our first timber portal went in at Riverwood, NSW, back in 2013, and since then our in-house engineering team has developed and refined a certified, prefabricated timber bracing system that solves both ends of the problem, and that fabricators can build straight into their frames.

Two solutions, one bracing system

meyBRACE is a prefabricated timber portal system for bracing around and over large openings. Supplied as a cut-to-length kit with the connectors, anchors and lintel included, it drops into pre-fabricated wall frames or assembles on-site, with member sizes engineered to suit the opening and the wall width. Slab tie-down uses standard anchor screws, with timber-floor tie-down options available. It's rigid, high-capacity and configurable, from straight portals through to cranked, raked and multi-column spans.

MTB is a prefabricated shear wall for the tight sections meyBRACE doesn't cover, the narrow lengths of wall frame that open-plan layouts tend to leave behind. Significantly stiffer than traditional short-wall sheet bracing, with design capacities determined from independent laboratory testing, MTB is built into wall frames in the factory and engineered to complement the meyBRACE portal system. Together they give you a bracing answer for the whole wall, the big openings and the narrow returns.

The engineering is the product

What sets this apart isn't just the kit, it's the engineering behind it. Meyer Timber's in-house engineers solve the bracing problem on the drawing: running the bracing check, working out the configuration, and designing project-specific solutions when the standard sizes won't do. Three-legged units, cranked and raked portals, cantilevered lintels. Every solution is certified and backed by technical support, so the fabricator building it, and the builder installing it, can stand behind the spec.

What it means on the factory floor

For frame and truss plants, meyBRACE and MTB are built to fit the way you work. Prefabricated kits mean clean factory builds and faster, tidier installs on-site. Standardised pricing and a straightforward quoting process mean bracing goes into the estimate from the start, not as an afterthought. And both integrate with the wall and roof systems you're already supplying. Meyer Timber also runs hands-on training to bring meyBRACE and MTB into your fabrication workflow, from assembly through to delivery.

Proven on real projects

The system has been put to work across the country, and a lot of that work has meant taking steel out of the design. On a coastal home at Tuross Heads, NSW, a two-storey steel portal frame originally costed at $120,000 was replaced with meyBRACE units, one first-floor unit 11.4 metres wide over three spans, with the builder reporting savings of tens of thousands of dollars and weeks of construction time, while avoiding the corrosion concerns steel brings near the coast.

Elsewhere, the same engineering has delivered two passive-house dwellings at Federal, NSW, a record ninety-seven meyBRACE units across a South Morang multi-unit development, and the first meyBRACE project in Tasmania, eliminating steel bracing on a Hobart development with custom three-legged units.

You can browse the full library of meyBRACE projects here.

Talk to the team

Whether it's a glass-fronted façade, a tight open-plan return, or a design that's currently carrying steel, Meyer Timber's engineers can work out a bracing solution and back it with certification and support. Talk to your Meyer Timber representative, or explore the case studies and product range at meyertimber.com.au.

meyBRACE and MTB are engineered bracing solutions from Meyer Timber. Racking capacities, tie-down and installation requirements are set out in the meyBRACE and MTB documentation supplied with each kit. All design and construction must comply with the relevant sections of the NCC and applicable standards.