Wood Member-To-Wood Member Gaps MiTek Staff MiTek engineers are often asked what maximum gaps are allowed for wood member-to-wood member in metal-plate-connected wood trusses. Gaps between wood members are addressed in Chapter 3 Quality Criteria for the Manufacture of Metal-Plate-Connected Wood Trusses of the ANSI/TPI 1-2014 (National... Read More October 2023 Issue #15291 Page 113
Should We Seal All Engineered Drawings? Glenn Traylor Recently, while conducting an ANSI/TPI audit, a splice caught my eye. When I investigated further, I realized that the bottom chord of the truss I was investigating had a very short, 2” chord segment. I immediately assumed the truss builders had cut a short block to make up for a miss-cut... Read More May 2023 Issue #15286 Page 37
Design Connections: Is There Ever Just One Right Way? Geordie Secord If you have spent your truss career in one region, and even more so with just one company, you will have seen that, generally speaking, your competitors and co-workers tend to frame houses essentially the same way. Only when you are exposed to a different company or region do you start to see... Read More March 2023 Issue #15284 Page 80
Understanding Plate Tooth Count and Placement Russell Tangren, PE Imagine a third-party truss inspector is in the yard checking truss plates as part of quality control. The plate placement diagram indicates the web needs twenty-five teeth; however, the inspector counts twenty. Even though the shop positioned the plates as designed, is the plate placement... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 80
Building Confidence: Understanding the Technology Behind MSR Lumber MSR Lumber Producers Council In our October article, Because Good Ingredients Matter, we focus on the word quality and the many ways that MSR lumber has become synonymous with high quality structural building components. Having laid the groundwork for why MSR has become so important for optimizing truss designs and an... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 94
Are You Counting Your Teeth Correctly? Glenn Traylor On occasion, we are required to utilize a detailed tooth count to qualify a connection on a metal plate connected wood truss. Fortunately, we have several tools that can assist us. My June article, “Which is Better: Plate Placement Method or Tooth Count Method?”, includes a... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 33
Because Good Ingredients Matter MSR Lumber Producers Council Since the 1960s, fabricators have used machine stress rated (MSR) lumber of all species to improve the performance and reliability of their engineered components and structures. Nowadays, you don’t have to look far to find a successful component manufacturer who relies heavily on MSR... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 90
Design Connections: Design: Software Power or Brain Power? Geordie Secord I sometimes wonder if I am at risk of becoming the truss designer version of the grouchy old man that sits on the front porch yelling at the neighborhood kids to “get off my lawn.” When I hear some newer designer criticize the limitations of today’s truss layout and design... Read More September 2022 Issue #14278 Page 86
What is the Value of a Floating Chase? Glenn Traylor The development of the 4 x 2 floor truss system revolutionized the truss industry. Plating to the narrow edge of the chord members presented some issues, but all in all it allowed component fabricators another product offering, expanding their potential business. In the original designs, it was... Read More August 2022 Issue #14277 Page 29
Which is Better: Plate Placement Method or Tooth Count Method? Glenn Traylor To answer the question of which is the better method, we should start with a little background. A critical plate is a plate with a Joint Stress Index of 80% or greater. The ANSI/TPI 1–2014 Standard stipulates that critical plate inspections must be conducted when completing the three... Read More June 2022 Issue #14275 Page 39