Construction

Become the “Go-To” Person in Your Market

  • Component manufacturers have to be proactive locally in pursuing those outside the industry, including building officials, members of the fire service, specifiers, framers and lawmakers.
  • It’s not hard to put a value on having eyes and ears like theirs in the market, when they are willing to look out for your business while they’re doing their jobs.
  • The more smoothly the installation of CM products goes, the less issues we have to confront in the field and the less we have to overcome challenging building code provisions, the more builders will want to buy and install our products.

Unifying the Framing Industry Through Safety

  • When it comes to jobsite safety, fragmentation within the construction industry creates obstacles that shouldn’t be there (and don’t have to be).  
  • It’s very difficult for framing companies to develop a consistent culture of safety when the jobsite-specific safety plan changes from jobsite to jobsite.
  • FrameSAFE provides a standardized approach to safety communication and shares universal best practices when it comes to safe behavior and jobsite hazard mitigation.

Bracing Options for Webs Revisited

  • The following Technical Q&A has been updated from the version that appeared in the 2006 June/July issue of SBC.  
  • Lateral restraints are installed to reduce the buckling length of the web(s), but must be restrained laterally to prevent the webs to which they are attached from buckling together in the same direction.
  • BCSI-B3, Permanent Restraint/Bracing of Chords and Web Members, provides general industry recommendations and methods for restraining web members against buckling.

Build Your Sales Force

  • The whole premise of NFC is to help the framing industry grow and develop through best practice-based standards.
  • Having a more standardized approach to framing will make the whole building construction process easier.
  • I believe every component manufacturer should get involved in NFC, become a member of this fledgling organization, and help support its mission and objectives.

Growing Compliance

  • In the past 30 years, my commitment to safety has led to lower insurance costs, OSHA inspections without fines and repeat customers.
  • Having a safe jobsite did not happen overnight. After working in the framing industry for many years, I’ve learned some methods and practices that work better than others.
  • A safer work environment will have far-reaching effects in the industry, beyond just a healthier and safer workforce.

Parting Shots

A few years ago, Lumber Specialties, a component manufacturer in Dyersville, IA, wanted a way to show proper bracing in a residential home. They asked Jason Gross, an intern in their design department at that time, to build an exact scale model of a roof truss system to accurately show diagonal bracing, lateral restraint, and T-bracing per BCSI.

Isolated Testing Helps Understanding of Heel Height Load Paths: Downstream Improvements Probable

  • Couple the IRC requirements with energy code requirements that are pushing more buildings to utilize a higher heel, and it is apparent the connection of high heels to walls is a key application issue.
  • The SBC Industry Testing Task Group and the TPI TAC/SBCA E&T Testing Review and Vetting Group has begun to evaluate the needs and priority of testing the performance of assemblies to quantify the effect of heel blocking. 
  • It is clear from the very specific and isolated heel height testing already performed that there is an opportunity to provide revisions to 2009 and 2012 model code blocking requirements to transfer the lateral load resulting from wind and seismic events into braced wall lines.

Engineering, Knowledge & Building Relationships

  • By approaching engineering and testing through the eyes of framers, NFC can make the framing process more reliable and cost effective.
  • SBCRI is fully capable of testing any type of full-scale assembly, which can provide framing contractors great insight into the performance of the products they use on a daily basis.
  • Testing raw materials, products and structural systems will ensure that framers understand real performance and derive maximum value from the product or engineered solution.

Connecting Wood Trusses to Braced Wall Panels

  • The 2012 IRC does not provide sufficient details on how to connect wood trusses to braced wall panels.
  • SBCA has developed a couple of details and will continue to develop standard details that provide code-compliant connections between roof/floor trusses and braced wall panels.
  • Component manufacturers can provide framers with specialty or standardized blocking panel products to reduce the time needed to install the blocking between trusses for these connections.

 

Doing More with Less Requires a Better Approach

  • Successfully constructing a building today takes effective communication and collaboration between building architects, structural designers, component manufacturers and framing labor contractors.
  • NFC’s first focus is to develop a national safety program for framing contractors.
  • NFC also plans to develop a scope of work document outlining standard responsibilities for framers and subcontractors.