Build Change and Simpson Strong-Tie Renew Fellowship for Engineering Excellence

With the growing danger of natural disasters, the race is on to expand access to programs that safeguard lives from the human-made danger of poorly built housing. With the common mission of building safer, stronger structures, Build Change and Simpson Strong-Tie announced the renewal of the Simpson Strong-Tie® Fellowship for Engineering Excellence program.
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Questions Answered: Making Wood Connections Work for Two-Hour Fire Walls

In this post, Paul McEntee follows up on our July 25 webinar, Making Wood Connections Work for Two-Hour Fire Walls, by answering some of the interesting questions raised by attendees.

We presented an hour-long webinar recently about using fire wall hangers in Type III wood-frame buildings, how they are tested and what the code requirements are for these buildings. In case you weren’t able to join our discussion, you can watch the on-demand webinar and earn PDH and CEU credits here.
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Rod-to-Steel-Beam Connections for Anchor Tiedown Systems: Rod Welding, Brittle Failure, and Alternative Connections

Continuous rod tiedowns are a common way to restrain shearwall overturning in light-frame structures. Anchoring the rod run in a steel beam can be challenging, however, because the holdown typically aligns with the beam’s web and thus cannot pass through the beam. Welding, on the other hand, can cause brittleness and fracture of the rod or coupler at the location of the weld, especially in high-strength steel rods and couplers. An effective alternative also using high-strength rods is provided by the Simpson Strong-Tie® ATS-SBC steel-beam connector, which comes with a steel plate whose flat edges can be fillet welded to the steel beam or embed plate without brittle failure. Scott Fischer, P.E., of Simpson Strong-Tie explains the results of our lab testing in the following post.
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Building Connections: Getting Social with Simpson Strong-Tie

Simpson Strong-Tie was built on the idea of making strong connections. That concept extends beyond our structural innovations for raising or supporting strong, resilient buildings and communities. We use social media and our two company blogs to have conversations not only about our products and services, but also about the values and mission of our company. Here are several of the ways you can tell us about your experiences with Simpson Strong-Tie, learn more about our company or ask us questions.
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Simpson Strong-Tie Build Change Fellow Visits Manila

This week’s post was written by James P. Mwangi, Ph.D., P.E., S.E. — our first annual Simpson Strong-Tie Engineering Excellence Fellow with Build Change. As part of his fellowship he’s been submitting reports about his work supporting the Build Change initiative. This is the last in a series of four.
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Still Using Lag Screws? Consider Self-Tapping Wood Screws Instead

Lag screws are traditionally specified for many structural loads in wood construction. However, recent innovations in engineering for self-tapping wood screws have made them an increasingly popular, labor-saving alternative to lag screws. In the following post, Aram Khachadourian, P.E., of Simpson Strong-Tie discusses the structural and economic advantages of this option.
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Webinar: Making Wood Connections Work for Two-Hour Fire Walls

My wife made furniture shopping a family event last weekend, which meant I had to go. The showroom was in a concrete tilt-up with open-web steel joists and a wood roof. My oldest son asked me who decides what construction materials are used, and why. He’s starting college in the fall and thinks he wants to be a mechanical engineer, but his curiosity about construction gives me hope that we can convert him.
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CFS Designer™ v2.5 Makes Cold-Formed Steel Design Easier Than Ever

With the use of engineering software tools, structural engineers can design buildings faster and more efficiently than ever before. In this blog post, Clifton Melcher, P.E., a senior project manager for cold-formed steel connectors, discusses the various enhancements included in version 2.5 of Simpson Strong-Tie® CFS Designer™ software.
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Simpson Strong-Tie Build Change Fellow Visits Colombia

This week’s post was written by James P. Mwangi, Ph.D., P.E., S.E. — our first annual Simpson Strong-Tie Engineering Excellence Fellow with Build Change. As part of his fellowship, he’s submitting reports about his work supporting the Build Change initiative. This is the third in a series of four.
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