Ozone NAAQS Already Sufficiently Protective of Public Health Robert Glowinski The House of Representatives has passed the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017 (HR 806), which balances air quality with sound regulatory processes. The legislation would prevent a rushed implementation of the 2015 ozone Nation Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). AWC urges the Senate... Read More September 2017 Issue #10218 Page 65
All Things Wood: Evaluating an Existing Residential Deck Frank Woeste Since 2003, deck researchers and representatives of the code community have worked to improve and expand the deck provisions in the International Residential Code (IRC). I believe the deck-related provisions of the 2015 IRC, coupled with best practices in the American Wood Council DCA6-2012,... Read More August 2017 Issue #10217 Page 66
Making Code Official Connections Robert Glowinski Building officials are the gatekeepers to building construction. To approve any construction, including where wood is the principal product, they need to know a lot of information. The American Wood Council aims to make the job of building code official a little easier when it comes to knowing... Read More July 2017 Issue #10216 Page 71
All Things Wood: Anatomy of an Inherently Dangerous Deck Frank Woeste Over the period of nine days starting on June 9, 2017, five deck collapses in five states (MT, VA, OH. MI, and WI) were reported in the news media. Using the injury data from the media, the five collapses resulted in a total of 57 injuries. In one case, WAVY.com reported that, after an... Read More July 2017 Issue #10216 Page 76
So What is the Big Deal About Member to Member Gaps? Glenn Traylor Compliance with ANSI/TPI 1–2014 requires maintaining member to member gaps at less than 1/4 inch. An exception would be for floor truss chord splices where the limit is 1/16 inch. Let us take a look at two different situations, the first being a roof truss and the second being a 4 x 2... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 30
All Things Wood: How to Predict a Bouncy Floor Frank Woeste Background The model International Residential Code (IRC) permits a design live load of 30 psf for “sleeping rooms.” The model codes specify 40 psf for all other rooms. Of the annoying floor vibration complaints we have received, the most common scenario stems from the use... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 68
The Next Generation of Building Professionals Robert Glowinski At the American Wood Council, our engineers develop state-of-the-art engineering data, technology, and standards for wood products to assure their safe and efficient design. They are also very involved in our work with building and fire codes, providing the technical background and research... Read More May 2017 Issue #10214 Page 61
Building Code Update: 2018 IBC to Reference ASCE 7-16 Randy Shackelford In early December, ICC posted the preliminary results of the Group B Online Governmental Consensus Vote, which included structural changes to the IBC, IEBC and IRC. ICC reports that there were more than 162,000 votes cast by eligible Voting Members during the three-week online voting... Read More May 2017 Issue #10214 Page 83
How the Green Building Revolution is Encouraging the Wood Products Market Robert Glowinski While it’s well known that wood products offer a wide variety of environmental benefits – typically less embodied energy, lower air and water pollution, and a lighter carbon footprint than other commonly used building materials – it can often be a challenge to translate this... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 63
Mass Timber Construction – Building for the Future Fred Tai The future is here. It is common knowledge that wood is a renewable and environmentally friendly building material. There are two types of wood-framing methods in North America. The most common method for residential construction is light-frame construction using either balloon-framing or... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 76