MSR Lumber

Question: 

Our home caught fire last month and burned partly through a tongue and groove ceiling to the trusses. Some are charred. Our contractor did a moisture meter test. An engineer for the insurance company said the trusses were only smoke damaged & the moisture meter test is invalid (it can be set to read anything). I found one article on charred trusses, but it’s pretty vague. We do not feel safe with the insurance engineer’s assessment because some of the trusses are obviously charred. We hired an engineer who agreed with us.

Question: 

Are there any published studies or guidelines on the fire rating of floor trusses built with 2x3 lumber?

Question: 

I need to obtain some information on fire-retardant-treated roof trusses.

Question: 

I am looking for a 1-hour roof/ceiling assembly for wood truss construction. I would like to apply the drywall directly to the bottom of the truss and also have insulation for sound control. Is this possible without using channels and what UL number would I use?

Question: 

I am trying to develop a guideline for my firefighters regarding initial fire attack in buildings with light-weight trusses. My concern is truss failure, especially when exposed to fire. Is there any information on failure time related to flame impingement? Any information about truss failure – especially in a fire condition would be helpful.

Question: 

Where can I find tolerances and measurements of green and dry lumber?

Question: 

We recently received bids on a school project, which referenced UL P523. This assembly used light-gauge steel trusses. We noted on the drawing that we could accept an alternate design using wood trusses in lieu of light-gauge steel framing, if the alternate design could meet the fire ratings.

Question: 

In a small scale multi-family residential project, I'd like to use a wood truss floor-ceiling assembly to achieve a one hour separation between units. I'd like to directly attach the drywall to the underside of the trusses & use the truss space for ducts & lighting (the floor above will be lightweight concrete on plywood sub-floor). UL assemblies do not seem to address the duct/light penetrations in such an assembly. Can I achieve a one-hour rating in such an assembly and how are penetrations addressed? Can the ducts in the truss space serve both units above and below?

With MSR lumber, CMs find they can more effectively deal with lumber defects that can affect connector plate teeth embedment at critical joints.

It’s one thing to have a salesperson from an MSR producer tell you the advantages of using MSR lumber in your production process. It’s an entirely different thing—and much more persuasive—to have four veteran component manufacturers (CMs) give you the reasons they’re convinced it’s better than visually graded lumber.

ALSC’s PS 20-15 has fundamentally changed what this grade stamp represents.

Few issues have demanded the attention of the SBCA Board of Directors more over the past five years than the variability of lumber design values. SBCA Legal Counsel Kent Pagel provided guidance to component manufacturers (CMs) on ways to mitigate the potential risk and liability that have arisen in the market as a result of how the lumber industry has chosen to deal with the issue of variable design properties.