Truss Tales

Wall panels gradually insinuated themselves into the minds of homebuilders throughout the 1930s, helped greatly by government actions. As these builders were unable to sell their custom models during the Great Depression, a few of them experimented with lower-cost construction methods. The...

For most of the 20th century, engineers did not study nor would they normally specify wood trusses. Wood was thought to be suitable only for houses and barns, so steel was the material of choice – except when there wasn’t enough steel. That was the situation the Army Corps of...

Coming home from World War I to a severe shortage of housing, 4 million American men had little hope of achieving the American Dream of homeownership. In fact, that optimistic characterization hadn’t yet entered the American lexicon. Most new families were stuck in rental housing, or in...

Remote workers and road warriors should take a lesson from a master of both, autodidact Michael T. McMahon. Early in his 45-year career, while working in the Indian Country of North Dakota, he was inspired by another master, Chief Crazy Horse. “Hoka Hey” was his war cry at Little Big...