Whether you’re building, renovating or rebuilding a single-family home, your basement floor system has to provide a fire-rated solution. The International Residential Code (IRC) identifies the fire-resistance expected of your floor if a fire breaks out below it. If your floor structure consists of 2″ x 10″ dimensional lumber, you already have your solution. This is … Continued
TRIFORCE® experts are regularly invited as speakers for continuing education webinars. One participant recently asked if open web floor joists still require rim board. I thought that was an interesting question because once you understand everything rim board does, you adopt it. Rim board: An essential part of an engineered wood floor system Rim board … Continued
Open ceiling design for single-family home basements is certainly popular if you judge by its coverage on the web or the number of tips you can find on how to create a more open-looking basement space. This trendy “industrial look” in single-family homes has definitely caught on. For builders, however, safety considerations naturally come before … Continued
While floor systems have evolved through time, the good ol’ floor truss is still around. Admittedly, it does have certain advantages. But how does it compare to the latest generation of our floor solution: TRIFORCE® open joist? Floor truss characteristics Floor trusses are certainly a viable option for your floor structure. A floor truss consists … Continued
Today’s housing market offers an ever-increasing variety of construction materials. From the more traditional lumber that we’ve been using for centuries, the industry moved to more efficient solutions. The I-joists and plated trusses appeared in the late 60’s and early 70’s to challenge widespread methods and standards. But it wouldn’t be until 1990 that a … Continued
Two years ago, a builder in Maine faced a daunting challenge. He had to build a large multi-use structure in a typically tight New England location and meet a very specific completion deadline. A developer in York Beach, Maine had engaged him to complete a project called York Beach Residence Club. It was designed to … Continued
This is a good time to point out that steel-plate-connected floor truss lead times are stretching out longer and longer every day while TRIFORCE® made-to-stock joists ship within days. But it’s an even better time to discuss another advantage enjoyed by TRIFORCE®…cost savings. Here’s why TRIFORCE® costs less…significantly less…than steel plated floor trusses. Steel Cost … Continued
Contrary to floors built with 2″ x 10″, an engineered wood floor system allows you to hide a large portion of a house’s mechanical systems. Using the floor cavity in this way enables you to design uniform, wide open living spaces. It also reduces the need to run HVAC ducting in attic spaces, which from … Continued
Every once in a while we like to get back to basics with some installation tips. If you are new to installing TRIFORCE®, these guidelines will help you transition from what you were using before. For those of you that are already using this great product, there’s no harm in going over a quick refresher in … Continued
In the past few months, we’ve heard a lot of talk about rising materials pricing. From softwood lumber to gypsum and concrete, many materials have seen substantial price increases since the beginning of the year. Lumber pricing won’t likely stabilize in the short-term either. Not only rising materials pricing but shortages too Some of this instability … Continued