Two kinds of designers are involved in home construction—design professionals responsible for the structure and the interior-focused designers responsible for the final appearance. Although these roles can overlap, it is important for design professionals to be aware of in-service demands...

A process that requires the inspection of each individual unit or component received from a process or manufacturer is said to be “100 percent inspected.” When fabricators initially consider a quality program, this is what they imagine is necessary. This 100% process, however, is...

ANSI/TPI 1 is the National Design Standard that establishes the minimum requirements for the design and construction of metal-plate-connected wood trusses. Chapter 2 defines the design responsibilities. As a truss technician or a component manufacturer, you are not responsible for specifying the...

With the New Year comes new International codes, IBC and IRC 2018 (referred to as the I-Codes), and fortunately, few changes to truss designs. These changes are the result of the revised design criteria contained in ASCE 7–16, which IBC 2018 relies upon. Very few jurisdictions will...

In an ideal world, a building is envisioned and a structural engineer begins the structural design. When the decision to use roof trusses is made, a component manufacturer is promptly involved in the design process. Using the loads and design parameters from the structural engineer, the trusses...

Vertical deflection resulting from live and dead loads – of both roof and floor framing components – is an important serviceability consideration in the overall design of the building. And while this could be a topic in and of itself, this article is instead going to focus on two...

ANSI/TPI 1, Chapter 2 As a truss technician or component manufacturer, have you ever been asked to perform duties that fall outside of ANSI/TPI 1, Chapter 2 guidelines? We know in our previous roles as truss technicians and component manufacturers, we were often requested to perform a task...

Compliance with ANSI/TPI 1–2014 requires maintaining member to member gaps at less than 1/4 inch. An exception would be for floor truss chord splices where the limit is 1/16 inch. Let us take a look at two different situations, the first being a roof truss and the second being a 4 x 2...

What do a chicken house, a water treatment plant and a raised wood floor system all have in common? Very likely, they all involve preservative-treated lumber. They’re also all examples of common environments in which preservative-treated, metal-plate-connected (MPC) wood trusses may be...

“As a CM, how do I best convey my intended and assumed scope of work and overall responsibility to all parties involved in the construction of a project I am bidding? I don’t want to be held responsible for something I haven’t bid.” This is a terrific question and...