Construction

Framing a House in Three Days: Optimization Is a Key Component

When designed and installed correctly, components can greatly reduce the time and materials required to frame a structure. 

Long (Attention) Span: Trusses Over 60 Feet Present Bracing Challenges

"There's something wrong with your trusses!"

Perfect Form: The Value of Engineering & a Well-Executed Plan

Last summer, Superstorm Sandy caused an estimated $65 billion worth of damage in the U.S., a total surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina in American history. Sandy was the largest hurricane on record to hit the Atlantic Coast, at over 1,100 miles in diameter. So while it hit the New Jersey shores the hardest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, its disastrous effects were felt as far inland as Wisconsin and Michigan.

While the chaos and destruction wrought by this powerful natural force is sobering, it’s hard not to simultaneously focus on the positive stories that came out of such events. One such story is that of Cussewago Truss LLC in Cambridge Springs, PA. It’s a tale of the marvels of wood, the value of engineering and the fruits of a well-executed plan.

The Holy Truss

Ever have one of those component jobs where everything went exactly to plan, only to have a hiccup at the last moment? 

Parting Shots

By creating national standards, based on field-tested best practices, the National Framers Council (NFC) will not only help improve the safety of each worker on the jobsite, it will aid in reducing ambiguity in everything from OSHA jobsite inspections to residential fall protection. 

Installation & Fastening of Wood Structural Panel Wall Bracing

  • Use of galvanized box nails may result in shear walls with a shear capacity significantly below the nominal unit shear capacities given in SDPWS.
  • Thus, the majority of WSP shear walls have a shear capacity with a high degree of design value variability. This may have unintended consequences that are unknown and unappreciated by the professional engineering and/or building design community.
  • Once SBCA and SBCRI were certain their testing and engineering analysis was consistent and repeatable, they were persistent in bringing all WSP shear wall performance issues to the attention of APA, AWC, ICC-ES and ICC.  

The Complete Package

  • The most effective way to avoid recurrent issues with component installation is to give an SBCA Jobsite Package to the general contractor and framing crew on every job.
  • Simply having your driver drop the Jobsite Package off with the component package at the jobsite isn’t enough.
  • Anytime you work with a GC or an inexperienced crew for the first time, consider visiting with them ahead of delivery and walk them through the information in the jobsite package.

Keeping Our Customers Safe Is Good Business

  • The National Framers Council (NFC) was formed as a council of SBCA to give framers a national organization that will focus on best practices in jobsite safety and building material installation.
  • NFC’s goal is for each framer to leave the jobsite every day in the same health as when they arrived.
  • The more framers and CMs interact, the more we will be able to identify framing and component implementation issues in the field and find solutions where both industries win.

Fall Protection Made Easy(er)

It’s time to get out your winter coats. The bottom line for OSHA’s new residential fall protection rules is that framers are expected to make their approach to fall protection much like snowflakes: no two jobsites are exactly alike.