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Homeowners usually have to deal with obtaining a mortgage when buying a home, but they seldom need to convince a bank to loan them the same amount on a piece of dirt, with promises to make a home worth a mortgage. As the Homeowner/General Contractor, I not only had to qualify for the loan, I had...

A challenge for the component industry is brewing no matter if you are located in an area where new home construction continues to be strong or your market is slowed by the combined effects of high interest rates and stubbornly high inflation. Be it single family or multi-family, new designers...

Timber Products Inspection has compiled design value comparison tables for several popular species and species groups as a helpful tool for truss manufacturers to determine if a lumber grade and/or lumber species substitution satisfies the original truss design. The data used comes from the 2018...

In my previous article, The Evolution of Glued Trussed Joists, in the August 2021 issue, I explain that glued trusses have potential in floors. The new G-joist has high resistance. The chord shear failure is eliminated as the web finger punches the chord. The web-chord glue area is big. The mean...

Trusses are designed as individual components to resist the in-plane stresses resulting from the loads applied in the same in-plane direction. To resist out of plane forces, adequate bracing/restraint is required. In absence of designed temporary and permanent bracing plans, BCSI (Building...

For several years, the Simpson Strong-Tie Strong-Wall® research and development team has kicked around the idea of developing an “adapter” that would allow for field substitutions or accommodate misplaced Strong-Wall anchorage. The Strong-Wall WSWH high-strength wood shearwall...

The contemporary consolidations within the Lumber and Building Materials (LBM) business were prompted by consolidations within the home improvement retail industry. Home Depot started the movement in 1979, and its dramatic growth forced Lowes to follow it, converting its stores into mostly...

Call me naïve, but my assumption when having a conversation with adults is that everyone will act like adults. Yes, I assume other people will respond logically and rationally. Unfortunately, I’m usually wrong about once a week. Throwing a Fit I call it “the big baby,”...

As builders began demanding Gang-Nailed trusses, imitators answered their call with little concern for violating Cal Jureit’s patent. Even though his claims were technical triumphs, vetted by D.C. patent experts, they were quickly contested by two now-familiar figures, Bill Black and...

Immediately after I graduated from high school, my father, never one for complacency, sent me out to find a job for the summer. I remember walking into a local lumber yard looking for work. The gentleman I spoke with didn’t have a position, but he knew that the production manager at a...