Among the first advocates for floor trusses were two men who would later create an acclaimed component plant. Dwight Hikel and Chris Ditzel made early inroads at Fort McHenry Lumber, such that Ditzel declared in 1972, “I think we will be eventually doing 2-1/2 times the volume in floor trusses as we do in roof trusses.” They had spread the new product across the Baltimore-Washington region, and up the East Coast into New Jersey, prompting Lenny Sylk to partner with them and start up a plant that would become Shelter Systems of Maryland. (Today that plant, under Dwight’s son Joe, builds more floor trusses than any other, and easily fulfills Ditzel’s 2-1/2 times projection.)
Other CMs across the country found that the floor truss business was relatively easy to enter. Jack Schmitt, the originator, summarized in 1972, “An investment of $15,000 ($110,000 today) in equipment and facilities puts him into the business…to produce $4,000 to $5,000 in floor trusses in an eight-hour shift.” No special saw was required if precut webs were bought, and very little extra floor space was required, as floor machines, especially early models, could fit in a narrow low-ceiled shed.
The wind was also at the back of the industry, as houses kept getting bigger and floor spans longer. Builders, like Ryland Homes, were anxious to find an alternative to solid joists, as their diminishing quality was an increasing source of warranty expense. And builders already had roof trusses suppliers who would welcome the opportunity to provide a complementary product. But those suppliers would have to sharpen their pencils and show builders the other advantages, and to the forefront came many floor truss champions.
The first floor truss was built at Triangle Components in Windsor, WI, by Jim Lee and Don Steffenhagen, both now retired but long-time fixtures in the industry. Jack Schmitt gained the patent and aggressively got CMs on board, whose successors still animate our industry, including Joe Hikel and Jack Dermer (Fort McHenry Lumber), Ben and Keith Hershey (Imperial Components in Chicago), Scott Lallathin (Truss & Panel in Ohio), and Darin and Jerel Phalines (Concord Truss in New Jersey). Arguably, the most influential early proponents were Dick Rotto, founder of Trussway, in the apartment sector, and Lenny Sylk, founder of Shelter Systems, in the single family space, proving that labor cost could be halved, but that was only one of the advantages.
The early pioneers figured out how to sell a product that may have cost more per lineal ft. but offered untold advantages over joist systems: the ease of running HVAC, the elimination of framing drops, and longer clear spans. And, in the words of Henry Chambers, then of Imperial Components and later Chambers Truss, “It’s going to give architects the same freedom of design inside the building as roof trusses did in roof lines.” Over the succeeding years, builders were increasingly amenable to raising the depth of their floor systems, as they no longer were mimicking solid joists, to 14 or 16 inches for single family houses and 18 inches for multi-family projects. Unfortunately, these greater depths enabled I-joists to enter the fray.
To counter the advantages of open-webbed trusses, EWP dealers began cutting holes to accommodate HVAC, taking on the tedious task transporting 60 ft. long I-joists to and from a saw and accumulating costly cut-offs. Most independent CMs are loathe to execute this time-consuming and inefficient ritual in lieu of building floor trusses but are faced with the EWP dictates of big builders. The large LBMs have catered to these builders and have supplied the bulk of their orders with I-joists, at the expense of floor truss sales. But during the last three years, EWP pricing and availability factors have boosted floor truss competitiveness. Although today, according to Dave Baird, owner of Homestead Building Systems, EWP pricing is falling more into line, this volatility should encourage CMs to continue to test the floor system market and emphasize the traditional floor truss advantages that paved the way for engineered products.