When Can an Engineered Connection Look Like a Member to Member Gap? Glenn Traylor Sometimes, a designed and engineered connection will appear to look like a member to member gap. Because of that, we need to ask the question: should the truss designer always try to eliminate a member to member gap in a truss? Generally speaking, yes, it’s always worthwhile, but there are... Read More April 2026 Issue #18321 Page 19
Deflection Across the Chase in a Floor Truss MiTek Staff A chase is an intentional opening in a floor truss created by omitting specific diagonal webs to provide space for HVAC ducts, plumbing lines, or electrical runs. For structural efficiency, chases should be located within the middle third of the truss span, where shear forces are lowest.... Read More April 2026 Issue #18321 Page 128
Using the Plate Monitor “Inspect” Tool Larry Messamer, P.E. The “Inspect” tool in Plate Monitor (Joint Properties) is a little known and certainly underutilized tool in the Truss Studio design software that can help you quickly deal with joint plating changes and issues. [For all images, See PDF or View in Full Issue.] We developed this tool... Read More April 2026 Issue #18321 Page 138
Home Building Technology, Part XV: The Rebirth of Wood Joe Kannapell, PE Wood was not held in high regard in the truss drafting department where I began working. Our fabricator customers often wanted their trusses designed with “old lumber,” meaning the obsolete size of 1-5/8” x 3-5/8”, even though the 1.5” x 3.5” size had been in... Read More March 2026 Issue #18320 Page 10
Do You Know That Plate Rotation has a Significant Impact on Load Transfer? Glenn Traylor and Donna Marino Our industry design standard, ANSI/TPI 1, regulates numerous elements in constructing roof and floor trusses. The following is a brief non-exhaustive summary: Lumber grades and moisture content Pedigree of lumber grades and lumber management Controls on truss profiles Verification of... Read More March 2026 Issue #18320 Page 19
Interpreting the Snow Load Thermal Factor Frank Woeste and Marvin Strzyzewski When given a truss design project, the Truss Designer needs all of the loading parameters before starting work on it. This article will specifically discuss the Thermal Factor (Ct), which is part of the snow load calculations. As with any load parameter, using the wrong value will result in a... Read More March 2026 Issue #18320 Page 118
Lumber Substitutions in Trusses Marvin Strzyzewski, P.E. Chapter 3 of ANSI/TPI 1-2022, the National Design Standard for Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses, provides the component manufacturer with the Quality Criteria they must follow to ensure the metal plate connected wood trusses (MPCWT) they build meet the design assumptions. Section 3.4.2 Lumber... Read More March 2026 Issue #18320 Page 130
CS Producer: Continual Improvements and Enhancements Simpson Strong-Tie Staff CS Producer, Simpson Strong-Tie’s component manufacturing management solution, provides real-time truss plant feedback and production scheduling functionality, in a modern, user-friendly interface. Since its introduction in 2025, CS Producer continues to add new features and... Read More March 2026 Issue #18320 Page 140
Workstation Thoughts for Today’s Component Designers Geordie Secord If you’re a wood truss designer, you know one thing for sure: your workstation is where the magic (or the misery) happens. Long stretches of modeling, preparing quotes, reviewing digital plans, and generating production documents all happen at that desk. And while companies often focus on... Read More February 2026 Issue #18319 Page 122
To Align or Not to Align Doug Steimle, PE This article originally appeared in STRUCTURE Magazine and is reprinted with permission. One of the more hotly debated topics in the multi-story wood community is whether wall stud and truss or joist alignment is required over the full height of a building, or whether it is beneficial to... Read More February 2026 Issue #18319 Page 130