The Development of the Truss Plate, Part III: The Ingenuity of Carol Sanford and Cal Jureit Joe Kannapell Carol Sanford’s invention didn’t equal Cal Jureit’s, but he made up for it with his head start and his aggressive marketing. Sanford had filed for his patent in March 1954, two years ahead of Jureit’s September 1956 filing, and had a plate design that was relatively... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 10
Hurricane Andrew — a 30-Year-Old Learning Experience Randy Shackelford This August marked the 30th anniversary of the Florida landfall of Hurricane Andrew, one of the most damaging, and influential, hurricanes ever to hit the United States. Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida with Category 5 winds early on the morning of August 24, 1992. Andrew caused damages of $25... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 122
The Development of the Truss Plate, Part II: Cal Jureit’s Invention Joe Kannapell Civil engineer Cal Jureit had moved on from wood structures to concrete foundations, but not completely. While he was engaged with the problem of building houses on Miami’s marshes near the Everglades, he had left the problem of wood connections unresolved. Perhaps his ongoing work on Dade... Read More September 2022 Issue #14278 Page 10
The Development of the Truss Plate, Part I: The Perfect Storm Joe Kannapell A nearly perfect confluence of circumstances combined to create the truss plate in South Florida. The wartime home-building hiatus, the post-war baby boom, and the northward (from Cuba) and southward (snowbird) migration to Florida all combined to skyrocket the demand for new housing. But what... Read More August 2022 Issue #14277 Page 10
8 Reasons Building Materials Companies Need to Pay Attention to Offsite Construction Mark Mitchell Is offsite construction just a fad or is it going to become the new normal for the construction industry? Is it an untapped market for manufacturers and suppliers? If your business is selling building materials, does it even matter whether you sell to offsite facilities or companies that... Read More August 2022 Issue #14277 Page 82
Standards Ensure Off-site Built Tiny Homes Deliver Safety and Efficiency Ryan Colker As many communities and potential homeowners struggle with housing affordability, tiny houses have emerged as part of the solution. Assuring these tiny houses deliver the same level of safety and efficiency of other permanent housing solutions is essential. Local building codes and the... Read More August 2022 Issue #14277 Page 96
Everybody Matters: Safety Never Takes a Holiday Marisa Scott June is National Safety Month, but at Simpson Strong-Tie, safety never takes a day off. We’re at it all year, day in and day out. The motto of the Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) department is “Keep Us Strong,” and that’s exactly what we strive to do. At Simpson... Read More July 2022 Issue #14276 Page 114
A Retrofit or a New Truss Line – How to Decide Cullen Ellis and Chad Wickham Decisions, decisions – how do you decide between a retrofit for your plant or upgrading to a new truss line? It’s all about the options. Let’s Start with the Retrofit Retrofitting an existing table is not for the faint hearted, so it’s important to know you have... Read More May 2022 Issue #14274 Page 19
Is Perfect Lumber Required to Make Great Trusses? Glenn Traylor Due to the nature of wood, lumber characteristics can vary in every piece. Even “in grade” lumber can have drastic variations in performance. How can we deal with and adjust for natural defects and variability? We have discussed roof trusses in previous articles, including... Read More May 2022 Issue #14274 Page 43
Has More Automation Resulted in Too Little Information to the Truss Builder? Glenn Traylor Today’s technology has made life easier for the truss designer and others in the truss fabrication process. In the early days of the truss industry, we used, reused, and modified existing designs to create new designs using paper, pencil, and a handy Smoley’s Book. Soon we graduated... Read More March 2022 Issue #14272 Page 43