The simple answer is no, not normally, but the reasoning behind that answer merits discussion. It should come as no surprise that truss connector plates are tied to design software and ultimately engineering design. The problem is one plate manufacture is not equivalent to another plate...

Lumber properties are influenced by species and growing region. Species with similar design properties are combined into species groups, as shown in Tables 4A, 4B, and 4F of the NDS Supplement[1]. For example, a common species group in the southeastern U.S. is Southern Pine (SP), which includes...

When I saw the article on ceiling separation, The Enduring Problem of Truss Partition Separation, written by my friend Frank Woeste in the November issue of The Advertiser, I was excited to read it. As Frank writes, this problem has been around since there has been a metal plate connected wood...

For more than 40 years, truss partition separation, often loosely referred to as “truss uplift,” has been a practical (and annoying) issue for homeowners and homebuilders. While it was first investigated at the field level and researched in the laboratory in the 1970s, an October...

The old joke is: “What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence? Time to get a new fence.” So what time is it when your floor trusses look like this? It might be time for a new floor machine or at least some attention. In the photo [See PDF or View in Full Issue], the floor...

The Advertiser - June 2017 | Page #30 Compliance with ANSI/TPI 1–2014 requires maintaining member to member gaps at less than 1/8 inch. An exception would be for floor truss chord splices where the limit is 1/16 inch. While building trusses, the code calls for tight joints. In a...

What makes up a great Quality Assurance Program? As you’ll recall, I listed 9 essential components for good QA in an article last year, “How Does a Fabricator Gain From a 3rd Party Audit?”. It’s no surprise that each one is rooted in the personal, on-site interaction that...

Back in the days before Autoset C®, Matchpoint®, and Wizard®, truss set-ups and the truss profile were dependent on the truss builder’s ability to accurately jig the truss being built using cross reference information and data. For example, a heel to peak measurement was taken...

Quality trusses with smooth splices help ensure quality ceilings and floor finishes, but several factors may affect their execution. It’s generally understood by most truss builders that, while creating chord splices on any truss, it’s important to maintain a flush plane surface...

Can quality be determined by examining the environment of the facility manufacturing the product? It seems like the two are unrelated, but, after evaluating hundreds of facilities, quality seems to be proportional to the environment of the manufacturing. By this, I’m not saying that brand...