Highway Wind Load Calculator
Is your framing strong enough for 65mph winds?
The “Sail” Area
Standard sheathing provides excellent shear strength.
Engineering the “House of Cards”
When wind hits the front face (the sail), it tries to push the top of the house back while the trailer holds the bottom. This is a Racking Force. The side walls must act as “Shear Walls” to resist this distortion. Without plywood sheathing, a wall is just a collapsible parallelogram.
At 65mph, the wind pressure can generate over 1,000 lbs of force pushing back. This creates a rotational force that tries to rip the front corners of the house vertically off the trailer. This is why Simpson Strong-Tie Hold-Downs (HDU) are critical at the corners.
This tool helps builders understand that towing a tiny house at 65 mph is structurally equivalent to parking it inside a Category 1 Hurricane. It calculates the massive “Drag Force” hitting the front of the house and checks if the side walls (the “Shear Walls”) have enough bracing to prevent the structure from racking (leaning backward) or collapsing.