As a global pioneer in the building components industry, we’re looking forward to presenting our integrated solutions suite at the upcoming Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC) | Framer’s Summit 2024. Our booth at the event will feature best-in-class software, automated...

What if the future of truss design isn’t just about developing better tools, but redefining the entire process from the ground up? On August 15, we publicly announced Paragon — a product that will change the way trusses are designed and built. A product that took years of...

The component manufacturing industry, specifically of roof and floor trusses, is undergoing significant transformation. To delve deeper, we spoke with Todd Drummond, a seasoned expert and long-time consultant with extensive knowledge and experience in the field of truss manufacturing. You can...

Since I began my column here in July 2022, you’ve gotten to know me as a truss and component designer who happens to live in Canada. Over the months since then, I’ve focused on many design considerations, including “Cost-Saving Measures and Memorable Debacles,”...

This article appears in the April 2024 issue of STRUCTURE Magazine as Part 6 of 9. Reprinted with permission. This multi-part series discusses significant structural changes to the 2024 International Building Code (IBC) by the International Code Council (ICC). This article includes...

In the truss industry, camber refers to the gradual curvature of a chord member either naturally occurring or created to alleviate the natural deflection of a truss structure. That sounds simple enough, but there are key elements about camber that should be considered. Camber in Action All...

I love history, particularly the history of wood framing in the U.S. One segment of this category that has some confusion surrounding it is the history of metal connectors used to join two or more wood members to make a structural connection. There are many types of structural connectors,...

One constant thorn in the side of truss fabricators is the cost of preparing quotes, often multiple times for the same job through the life of a project. I find that this is especially true for custom homes, as they often go through numerous revisions for aesthetic, budget, zoning, and other...

Typically, trusses are spaced evenly. The spacing shown on MiTek engineering drawings is a tributary area carried by the trusses. Each truss is designed to support one-half of the roof/floor load on each side. The spacing between the trusses may be of any combination if the tributary area does...

One interesting part of being a field engineer for Simpson Strong-Tie is having the opportunity to see how different structural engineers may take different approaches to similar designs. We at Simpson Strong-Tie have come to appreciate these different approaches and embrace this phenomenon by...