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How one CM introduces building officials to the entire scope of work that goes into truss manufacturing.
Floor systems are as key to making framing better, faster and more cost effective as wall panels and roof trusses.
“All the builders and framers I talk to out there say the same thing: they can’t find enough guys to do what they want to do.” Those are the thoughts of Jason Blenker, president of Blenker Building Systems. If national surveys and media reports are accurate, the sentiment is shared by most of the construction industry across the country.
A sideline in heavy timber is a striking support to the main business of Rehkemper & Son.
Roughly 60 years after their inception, roof trusses are well-established in the market, a cornerstone of residential framing. Their natural counterpart, floor trusses, are quite possibly the most misunderstood product offered by our industry.
How Framing the American Dream again shows there’s a better way to frame.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without all our employees. They’re the lifeblood of what we do.”
A CM in Pennsylvania is taking a proactive approach to dealing with exception four of IRC provision R501.3.
In this issue, we take a look at the Framing the American Dream (FAD) project and the value it has for component manufacturers (CMs). This FAD overview lays the foundation for future articles in which we’ll go into greater depth on specific benchmarking data. A comment from Jack Dermer, president of American Truss, sums it up: “Now that the latest study is completed, the next step is for component manufacturers to look at their own markets and find different ways to talk about the study so it’s applicable to their own unique situations.”
Three months before its grand opening in June 2007, wall panels were installed in the Structural Building Components Research Institute (SBCRI) testing lab.
“More often than not, if it’s a flat roof, it has a green roof on it.”
Background:
R501.3 (IRC-12) or R302.13 (IRC-15) states the following – “Floor assemblies….shall be provided with a 1/2-inch (12.7 mm) gypsum wallboard membrane…… or equivalent…….
A tour can seal the deal with potential customers or cement a relationship with established ones.
Having a voice and a united group of CMs to drive the industry forward is one of the primary reasons for belonging to our trade association.
Both the International Residential Code (IRC) and the International Building Code (IBC) require that the top plates of exterior braced wall panels be attached to the rafters or roof trusses above. This report will discuss the code requirements and provide alternate engineered designs and capacities, including heel/bird blocking, partial height blocking and blocking panels.
General Design Information
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National Design Specification for Wood Construction (NDS) 2015 Wood Design Package brings together all required elements for design of wood structures in one comprehensive set, including NDS for Wood Construction, 2015 Edition; NDS Supplement: Design Values for Wood Construction, 2015 Edition; and 2015 Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS) Standard.
- A quarter of a million people left the housing construction industry from 2002-2012, and many of them have found employment elsewhere.
- Framers are feeling the effects of this exodus more acutely than most, prompting them to look for creative ways to do more with fewer people.
- CMs can play a pivotal role in switching framers from sticks to components by offering installation training and expertise to new framing employees.
Using the lyrics of a golden oldie, Jess Lohse reminds CMs to take charge of their vessels and set a course for success!
- CMs engaged in NFC membership de-velopment efforts will find their work rewarded with better organized, safer, more effective and more reliable framing crews.
- Framers engaged in NFC will learn component installation best practices from other framers, with the goal of creating more efficient, safe and profitable framing outcomes.
- By actively growing awareness of and membership in NFC, CMs will expand their framing community connections and naturally expand market share and revenue growth.
Explore the two different methods used to calculate a wall panel’s capacity to resist applied lateral loads.
- Manufacturing rough openings in a plant improves site placement accuracy efficiency dues to consistent framing every time.
- Componentized wall sections also significantly reduce jobsite waste and allow for the use of alternative header approaches and materials.
- Having the ability to deliver components just in time to urban jobsites alleviates the need for hard-to-find storage and staging areas.
How’s your I-joist and floor truss business? SBCA Marketing Committee Chair Jess Lohse wants to know.
Editor’s Note: The purpose of this article series is to identify truss-related structural issues sometimes missed due to the day-in and day-out demands of truss design/production and the fragmented building design review and approval process. This series will explore issues in the building market that are not normally focused upon, and provide recommended best-practice guidance.
- A series of test concepts have been suggested. SBCA needs your input on these concepts to ensure the industry testing conducted in SBCRI helps improve market opportunities for CMs.
- The goal of industry testing in SBCRI is to tackle the daily design and framing challenges CMs see, and find solutions that make components even more reliable and cost effective.
- SBCRI was developed and built specifically for this purpose.
Building Designers need to account for the dead and live loads of fire sprinkler systems, in addition to the other load requirements imposed under the model building codes. Truss Designers are responsible for incorporating the additional load from the fire sprinkler systems into the truss design. The information in this Research Report is applicable to both floor and roof systems. Only vertical loads from fire sprinkler systems are discussed; lateral loads, where required, should be evaluated separately by a Registered Design Professional.
William “Al” James passed away at the age of 87 on February 26, 2015.
SBCRI Testing & SBCA Research Reports can transform your market.