Structural Steel Studs & Track

Structural steel studs and track carry floor loads, roof loads and wind. The load-bearing stud runs 1-5/8″ to 14″ deep in 20 to 12 gauge, cut to the length you order, and seats in matching track or slotted track under a deflecting slab.

Load-Bearing Steel Stud

Cold-formed steel C-studs from 20 to 12 gauge for walls that carry floor and roof loads, wind load, or both. Every stud has stiffening lips on both flanges and oval service knockouts on the web, in the length you order.

Steel Track

U-shaped track that holds steel studs at the top and bottom of walls, frames headers and sills at openings, caps joist ends as rim track and nests with a stud to make a box member. Flat web, plain legs, no lips and no knockouts.

Slotted Track

Head-of-wall track fixed to the structure above. Its 2-1/2″ legs have vertical slots and the studs are screwed through the slots, so floors and roofs can move up and down while the studs below stay where they are.

Windbrace

A light galvanized steel brace with a T-shaped section, run diagonally across a framed wall. Its web sits in a single saw kerf and its flat face is nailed to every stud and plate, so it keeps the frame square and resists racking while sheathing, insulation or drywall go straight over it.

Flat Strap

Flat galvanized steel in the width and thickness the job needs: horizontal strap bracing on wall studs, strap bridging under floor joists, tension X-bracing of shear walls, and backing, gusset and splice plates and closures. Widths up to 48″, 25 to 12 gauge, in 10′ lengths, up to 12′, or in coil.

More Products

What makes a stud structural

A structural stud has the same C shape as an interior stud, but in heavier steel, with wider flanges and lips on both flanges. It is specified to ASTM C955 and designed to CSA S136.

Gauge	Min. yield	Typical use
20 ga	33 ksi	Tall interior walls, light curtain walls
18 ga	33 ksi	Curtain walls, infill walls
16 ga	50 ksi	Load-bearing walls, headers and jambs
14 ga and 12 ga	50 ksi	Heavy loads, long spans, mid-rise bearing walls

Typical uses are general guidance. The structural engineer sets the size, gauge, spacing, bracing and connections for every wall.

Flange width

Five flange widths change how much the stud can carry and how much room there is for sheathing and connections.

1-1/4": heavier interior walls.
1-5/8": most load-bearing and curtain walls.
2" and 2-1/2": wider bearing and heavier loads.
3": very heavy loads and longer spans.

Track at the top and bottom

Every structural stud sits in track of the same web width. The head detail depends on whether the wall carries the floor above or must stay clear of it.

Load-bearing wall: standard 1-1/4" leg track, studs screwed to both legs.
Infill or curtain wall under a moving slab: 2" or 3" deep-leg track with the studs left free, or slotted deflection track with screws in the slots.
Bracing: rows of bridging channel through the knockouts, and windbrace where diagonal bracing is called for.

Floors on the same system

The same cold-formed sections, in deeper sizes, frame floors. See the steel floor joist system, and form deck for concrete toppings over joists.

Common questions

Answers on gauges, head details and certification.

What gauge is a 54 mil stud?

16 gauge. 33 mil is 20 ga, 43 mil is 18 ga, 54 mil is 16 ga, 68 mil is 14 ga and 97 mil is 12 ga.

Deep-leg track or slotted deflection track?

Both let the slab above move without loading the studs. Deep-leg track relies on leg height and unscrewed studs; slotted track holds the studs with screws that ride in vertical slots. The engineer of record chooses.

Are Saturn Metal structural studs certified?

Our cold-formed framing members are product certified by CISC to CSSBI 61:24. Certification covers only the members named in our current Product Scope Listing, so confirm a specific member with us before relying on it.