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Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
May 2023 #15286 Page #37
Should We Seal All Engineered Drawings?
R
ecently, while conducting an ANSI/TPI audit, a splice caught my eye. When I investigated further, I realized that the bottom chord of the truss I was investigating had a very short, 2” chord segment. I immediately assumed the truss builders had cut a short block to make up for a miss-cut length of a chord segment. When I reviewed the shop drawings, I realized that the truss designer had designed a truss where the middle chord segment was 2” long. See the excerpt of the cut list and note item B2: This is Not an optimal situation.
By Glenn Traylor
We could debate the merits of plating a 2 x 3 ½ block – will it hold together without splitting into pieces while it transfers bending forces, and will it save money – but I believe the better discussion would be about the software. Specifically, shouldn’t we understand the limitations of design software? When the truss builder on the line asks, “Is this right?”, the answer should be more than just, “Build it per the drawing.” About 6 months ago, an attic design caught my eye. The design had a rather large attic room span. I wondered if the truss had interior bearing. I requested an engineered drawing showing the calculations, lumber, particulars. Wow! I was surprised. The truss was designed as a clear span. In my decades of truss design experience, I was amazed the truss worked. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the truss was run on 2-inch centers… That would be an expensive house. I guess you could save on sheathing cost? Unfortunately, the results were generated by a less than scrupulous designer. They could not get the truss design to work, so they kept reducing the spacing until the truss ran. I was told it was just to get some cutting and pricing. The cutting made it to the shop… not a good thing. Continued next page
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