Market Education

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know, Part II

  • When the IRC provides a solution that cannot be supported by testing of real buildings in a code-compliant application of braced walls, more accurate and technically correct engineered solutions will never be able to compete.
  • There is some resistance in the market to establishing standard factors for product equivalency or system performance because it may result in non-wood products graining an advantage over traditional OSB market share.
  • A top testing priority for SBCA is “Framing the American Dream III,” which seeks to test a typical stick framed roof and compare its performance to an identical engineered truss roof.

Bringing Stability Back into Our Truss Plants

  • The challenges of turnover leave some CMs hesitant about justifying the costs of training programs, such as SBCA’s TTT.
  • It’s worth implementing new strategies for retaining employees, such as reconsidering previous policies that may be hurting your company under current conditions. An example includes careful consideration when an employee makes a special request before automatically saying “no.” 
  • SBCA President Scott Ward calls on CMs to share their thoughts on employee retention; send suggestions to Emily Patterson. 

A Light in the Attic

Looking for an economical way to add square footage and an alternative to decreasing spans? Read on!

You Don't Know What You Don't Know

I had an interesting conversation recently with an engineer that I have known for at least 15 years.

Parting Shots

It’s a beautiful sight—trusses being braced properly, of course. That’s what Bob Dayhoff of Shelter Systems Limited and Chair of SBCA’s E&T Committee saw while celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary with his wife in Hawaii. “It was a welcome sight to see prefabricated trusses being used in construction and being safely erected and correctly braced to boot!” said Dayhoff.

Advanced Framing

  • Combining fiber reinforcement with finger jointed lumber could be a win for both the lumber and component industries. 
  • With in-line framing, CMs can remove studs and plate material, and spread the stud spacing out to 24", which, in some cases, allows for better insulation methods.
  • The key to new product development is generating sales revenue immediately by establishing design values and engineering reports that give assurance of the product’s equivalent code-compliant performance.

Parting Shots

Congratulations to Cascade Lumber Company, which celebrated its 60th anniversary in May.

Hitting the Hill: Sharing with Congress Our Industry's Perspective

Housing is fixed.

At least that is the belief of most members of Congress, based on feedback from lawmakers and legislative staffers on Capitol Hill. If you were to only listen to the national media to formulate an opinion on housing, you would probably reach a similar conclusion. While it is true that the residential construction market has definitely improved, with April housing starts over 850,000 and total U.S. permits just over one million, housing is certainly not “fixed.”

Floor Truss: An Endangered Species? How SBCA is Working to Preserve Floor Trusses in Ohio & Iowa

 

Here’s a quick history lesson. In reviewing public documents surrounding the 2010 Final Action Hearing of the ICC with regard to proposals RB31-9/10 and RB87-9/10, one would gather the following information:

Time for Us “Truss People” to Band Together

  • From NAHB’s perspective, the ALSC/SPIB Southern Pine design value effective date of June 1, 2013, is optional until local building departments enforce those values.
  • Scott Ward shares a first-hand experience of the devaluing of engineering where the new lumber design values apply only to the “truss people.” 
  • Engineered components result in a safer, more reliable, better quality, and more affordable structure; now we need to demonstrate definitive proof, and SBCRI was built for a time just like this.