I’ve been asked: do you always need a shop drawing or the engineering to inspect a truss? The quick answer if you are conducting an ANSI/TPI 1 Chapter 3 audit is that you must have a design drawing that specifies plate sizes, placement, and lumber grade requirements in addition to overall...

Inspirado por las frecuentes solicitudes de una referencia rápida, he creado una hoja única de la guía del Capítulo 3 de ANSI/TPI 1, similar a una versión de CliffsNotes del estándar. Tenga en cuenta que se omiten detalles importantes; para una comprensión completa, consulte el estándar...

According to Elon Musk, “Grok 4 is already at the intelligence of a PhD in every profession.” Anyone paying attention to the rapid developments in AI understands that this statement is not exaggeration—it is a warning. Within a very short period of time, AI systems will be able...

For the first time in U.S. model building code history, tornado design provisions for Risk Category III and IV buildings are given in the 2024 IBC. In fact, John ‘Buddy’ Showalter and Sandra Hyde have an excellent article on this, “2024 IBC Significant Structural Changes...

In early November, the Truss Plate Institute (TPI) was proud to announce the launch of our two new ANSI standards projects: TPI 2 – National Standard for Testing Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses and TPI 3 – National Design Standard for Bracing Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses....

A test lab is a building product manufacturer’s one-stop shop for engineering, manufacturing quality, and performance verification. Whether supporting new product development, regulatory submissions, or customer assurance testing, a test lab must have the right tools to get the job done....

Layout programs do a great job with truss-to-truss connectivity and load transfer. But the process is not foolproof and sometimes, loads need to be adjusted. Some applications don’t give you the freedom to make changes to loads after a truss has been analyzed. But Truss Studio does. With...

In today’s construction environment, direct collaboration between building designers and component manufacturers is largely nonexistent outside of the RFI process. The consequence of this is two-fold: one, building designers often don’t understand how structural components are...

Simpson Strong-Tie® was proud to exhibit at this year’s BCMC show in Omaha, Nebraska and visit with our industry partners and customers. [For all photos, See PDF or View in Full Issue.] Our booth highlighted the four pillars of our component manufacturer offering: innovative...

Within the IntelliVIEW Suite, the iPanel app gives component manufacturers a comprehensive set of tools to design, detail, review, and modify wall panels. From creating wall layouts to reviewing sheathing specs, iPanel simplifies the panel design process to optimize designer efficiency while...