The City of Denver is the latest in a growing number of cities, states, and municipalities to recognize the possibilities of tall mass timber construction. Following states such as Oregon, Utah, and Washington, the City of Denver voted in late December to adopt the 2019 Denver Building Code,...

CS16 coiled straps. I can’t tell you how many thousands (maybe more) I specified during my time as a consulting engineer. Straps are used everywhere. They were then, and are now, a go-to solution for drag and uplift loads. I didn’t have to look them up in the catalog — I knew...

Did you know that Simpson Strong-Tie offers free education and training to the construction industry? Indeed, we do. For several decades, Simpson Strong-Tie has made a commitment to supporting the development of our industry, and each year we educate tens of thousands of industry pros —...

In this article, we follow up on our April 17 webinar, Meeting Braced-Wall Requirements: A New Portal Frame Solution, by answering some of the interesting questions raised by attendees. During the webinar, we discussed how the Strong-Wall site-built portal frame system (PFS) provides...

With environmental sustainability becoming the focal point of national discourse, and extreme weather intensifying and occurring more frequently, our buildings need to be sustainable and resilient to mitigate damage to both the built environment and surrounding ecosystem. Researchers are...

Every day, component manufacturers are dealing with the entire spectrum of traditional and engineered wood products. In fact, educating your customers may be a key factor in your sales and services. Like you, the American Wood Council (AWC) sees how important education on wood can be to...

In this article, Paul McEntee follows up on our July 25 webinar, Making Wood Connections Work for Two-Hour Fire Walls, by answering some of the interesting questions raised by attendees. We presented an hour-long webinar recently about using fire wall hangers in Type III wood-frame buildings,...

My wife made furniture shopping a family event last weekend, which meant I had to go. The showroom was in a concrete tilt-up with open-web steel joists and a wood roof. My oldest son asked me who decides what construction materials are used, and why. He’s starting college in the fall and...

Of course you know about creating a continuous load path with either connectors or rod tiedown systems, but have you considered using fasteners instead? In this article, Bryan Wert follows up on our May 2 webinar, Drive a New Path: Resisting Uplift with Structural Fasteners, by answering some of...