Girt

For the town in Armenia, see Kard, Armenia.

In architecture or structural engineering, a girt is a horizontal structural member in a framed wall. Girts resist lateral loads from wind and support wall cladding materials. Girts are supported by the columns and typically pass outside of one or more columns. The use of girts to support metal siding is common in pre-engineered metal building systems.

In metal building systems, girts are frequently constructed from cold-formed steel 'Z' sections in a manner similar to roof purlins. These sections can be lapped and nested at the supports which creates a continuous beam configuration between the bays. See also Girt Bar located on the 737 used to deploy the escape slide.

An equivalent element in roof construction is a purlin.

See also

• Purlin