Lumber

Industry Testing at SBCRI Is Multi-ply-ing

What will happen if the plies of a multi-ply girder truss are not fastened together properly? Overloading and, potentially, chord fractures can occur.  

Machine Rated Lumber Makes a Lot of Cents

With MSR lumber, CMs find they can more effectively deal with lumber defects that can affect connector plate teeth embedment at critical joints.

It’s one thing to have a salesperson from an MSR producer tell you the advantages of using MSR lumber in your production process. It’s an entirely different thing—and much more persuasive—to have four veteran component manufacturers (CMs) give you the reasons they’re convinced it’s better than visually graded lumber.

Why Lumber Variability Is a Problem for CMs

ALSC’s PS 20-15 has fundamentally changed what this grade stamp represents.

Few issues have demanded the attention of the SBCA Board of Directors more over the past five years than the variability of lumber design values. SBCA Legal Counsel Kent Pagel provided guidance to component manufacturers (CMs) on ways to mitigate the potential risk and liability that have arisen in the market as a result of how the lumber industry has chosen to deal with the issue of variable design properties.

Re-evaluating the Role of Your Inventory

There is no better time to re-think how you can streamline your processes. Answers to the questions outlined here can have a dramatic effect on your bottom line.

Attachment of Residential Deck Ledger to Metal Plate Connected Wood Truss Floor Systems - Educational Program

This presentation provides construction details for residential deck ledger attachment to metal plate connected wood truss floor systems.

Knowledge Is Power: Quantifying the Value of SBCRI through SP Design Value Changes

Knowledge is power when it comes to making decisions, so the more knowledge the better. SBCRI unequivocally gives us access to knowledge no one else has.

Applying BCMC

BCMC session evaluations indicated that the BCMC Committee hit a home run in choosing the topics they did. Take a few moments to catch up on what you might have missed at this year's show.

Pay Attention to the Grade Stamp

  • When a stick of lumber's dressed size is less than the minimum required dressed size, the grading agency includes the size in the grade stamp as required by PS 20.
  • Reduced dimensions can result in actual design overstress, unless the actual size is put into the lumber inventory of your software provider’s program.
  • It is incumbent on the purchaser to decide whether or not to use specially marked lumber; buyer beware if there is a downstream design issue and the grade stamp was not accounted for in the design.

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.