Cross Bracing

Cross bracing is the name for the process of inserting diagonal bracing struts between the vertical footing used to raise the decking. The first strut is attached from the top of the leftmost vertical shaft to the bottom of the rightmost shaft. The second strut is a mirror image. Cross bracing may be added to each inter-foot gap, or used in every other gap so as to provide access to the space beneath the decking.

Knee Bracing

Knee bracing provides the greatest amount of access to the area beneath the decking. Knee bracing uses two bracing shafts, with the first connected from the bottom of the leftmost vertical shaft to the connecting beam the shafts are fixed to, one quarter of the way from the leftmost beam to the rightmost beam. The second bracing shaft mirrors this; with the two braces never connecting.

K Bracing

K bracing is employed where cross bracing is inappropriate because some level of access is required to the underside of the decking, but more support is required than that provided by knee bracing. Here the two bracing struts are connected at the base of their respective vertical shafts and then the struts meet at the horizontal connecting beam at the top of the shafts, half way between shafts. This leaves a triangular access area beneath the shafts.