STUDS AND TRUSSES

Al Carrell: The framing in a house is much like the bones in our body, it's a skeleton of the house, and you want it to be strong. Eventually, you want be able to see this skeleton, but it's got to be there, and it's got to be right. We've got some high-tech materials in this house that will make this an even stronger skeleton. DeDe, I've been around a lot of framing, and I've come in here and it looks to me like somebody's trying to save a lot of money with particle board.

DeDe Ryan: Well, I'm glad you said that. It does look like pressed wood, but it is highly engineered pressed wood. We take either an aspen or yellow poplar, and these are usually wood resources that are not used in structural components. But in this process we're able to take the wood fibers, mix it together with heat, and come out with a product that's dry, unlike traditional lumber, which you may get green, and over the life of your home it's going to shrink. This goes into your house and stays in your house just as it's put in that first day.

A.C.: What makes this stronger than a conventional 2x4?

D.R.: Well, the strength is actually in the consistency of the product. With 2x4's you can have some pieces that are strong and can carry a great deal of load. Some pieces may be somehow diminished because of knots or holes.

A.C.: And some of them are warped too.

D.R.: Absolutely. So with this product it's incredibly consistent. When you look down a long wall you want see the waves that you might see with traditional building.

A.C.: DeDe, I noticed that this big header up here is made out of engineered lumber also.

D.R.: Your absolutely right Al. One of the advantages of this is it allows a builder to span a long distance with one piece of wood without using a lot of support.

A.C.: And with the way houses are being built now, there's a lot of more open space. This is a big advantage.

D.R.: Absolutely. It accommodates those new architectural floor plans that give you wide expanses, very, very tall walls, maybe twenty feet high.

A.C.: Is there any limit to the size of the boards that you can turn out?

D.R.: Well, the only thing that limits you is your imagination. We could put a piece in that's 40 feet long.

A.C.: DeDe, in our house, every time somebody walks across the second floor up there, you can here them walking, it squeaks like crazy. Now I understand you guys have solved that problem.

D.R.: Absolutely right. It's really our flagship product, which is the Silent Floor. And the fact is, when you have dimension lumber that's kind of dried up or was put in green, there's a tendency for those nails, over time, to pull away from the products that they were nailed into. With the Silent Floor that doesn't happen. It's been engineered to accept a screwed and glued down decking, so when you walk, all you here is your footsteps.

A.C.: Now DeDe. I've been on sites when they go through the 2x4's and it looks like they're saying one for you and one for the junk pile, one for you...I mean, it's not maybe that bad, but there is a lot of waste.

D.R.: Try to get a 2x4 or 2x6 today out of a lumber yard that's very, very straight. It almost can't be done.

A.C.: Yeah.

D.R.: With ours, you don't even have to cull through a pile. Every piece is going to be just like the piece before it.

A.C.: Is it much more expensive?

D.R.: It is a little more expensive. You pay a premium for the fact that you're not wasting 15% to 30% of your stud material, for example. When you're building a house, you are faced with so many decisions. You know, carpet, tile, but all of those things can actually perform better if you think about upgrading the skeleton of your home.

For more information on Silent Floor contact Trus Joist MacMillan at 1-800-338-0515.

Episode 34 1996 - 97 Season

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