My questions with portal frames, nailing patterns and IRC vs. engineered shear wall design led me to an engineering forum that has been dissecting my previous PFH design. However, the interesting thing is that there has been little consensus among the engineers on the "correct" way to frame these three garage doors. I've discovered that many structural engineers are not very familiar with the IRC in general and many of them also dislike the portal frame method as shown in the IRC.
So to get a different perspective on the problem I thought I might post the following two options in this forum as well to see what the builder community has to say on the matter.
I've done my best to design these two options so that they are in line with the IRC2012 braced wall provisions. I have not shown all the details but just the general layout of the framing on the foundation.
Option 1 has three portal frames: one double portal frame, two single portal frames with a pony wall framed on top of each (dropped header).
Option 2 is very similar however it has the main LVL headers pushed up to the bottom of the double top plate and then a smaller header at the bottom of the filled in framing for the garage doors (2x6).
The idea behind option 2 is that the primary headers are better laterally braced (think direct wind loads on the garage doors). Whereas with option 1 the pony wall creates a hinge that allows the wall to buckle out of plane.
As far as lateral strength (shear strength) either option would be sufficient.
Which of the two methods would be easier to frame? Any other thoughts?

