A
Th e
Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
December 2023 #15293 Page #10
Floor Truss Technology, Part VII: The Devil is in Those Details uilding intricate floor truss details may bedevil a robot, but they provide the inherent advantage of floor trusses over I-joists. There are also things By Joe Kannapell that floor trusses can do that I-joists cannot. And they facilitate the most efficient use of materials. Visiting an I-joist cut-off yard tells the tale. Isn’t the handling of 60-foot-long packs of I-joists in a lumberyard just as difficult as handling 16-foot-long bunks of 2x10s on a jobsite? Both processes create expensive cut-offs that often can’t be reused. However, in a floor truss operation, the cut-offs can be repurposed into short blocks for floor details and web members, yielding much less volume of waste at a much lower cost. This savings in cost and waste is the essence of offsite construction.
B
The most distinguishing details of floor trusses are the openings that are built into them, preengineering pathways for mechanicals. Wiring, natural gas lines, and plumbing can be routed directly to fixtures, saving up to 30% in materials. The I-joist suppliers attempt to overcome this by cutting openings for ductwork, even though this neglects the penetrations required by other trades. This practice can create multiple unique joist configurations, complicating cutting, packaging, and installation. To mitigate some of these drawbacks, a large integrated builder has attempted to cut the maximum allowable number of large-diameter holes in his clear span joists. But, does this approach consider the following laborious steps that had to be taken to achieve that result? 1. Hauling a 60-foot bundle of joists to a saw with a monster forklift. 2. Setting joists on the saw’s live deck, breaking bands, and manhandling each joist onto the saw infeed. 3. Operator wait-time while the infeed pauses multiple times to cut holes at the router station and then cut to length. 4. Manually stacking cut joists, banding them, and forklifting to the loading area. 5. Forklifting cut-offs to the stocking area. Did he consider the opportunity cost of the very large yard space dedicated to the I-joist cut yard, and the cost of the waste inherent in outside storage of cut-offs? Continued next page
PHONE: 800-289-5627
Read/Subscribe online at www.componentadvertiser.com
FAX: 800-524-4982