Timber-Strong Design Build Competition — Utah Winners

In this blog post Jacob Cipollini, a civil engineering student from the University of Utah, shares his experience participating in this year’s Timber-Strong Design Build Competition

I’m Jacob Cipollini, a junior civil engineering student at the University of Utah. Our American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter recently won the Timber-Strong Design BuildSM Competition at the ASCE Intermountain Southwest Student Symposium. This event was sponsored in part by Simpson Strong-Tie.  Continue Reading

Guides to Making I-Joist Connections — Simpson Strong-Tie® CSGs Make EWP Designs Easier

Connector Selection Guides (CSGs) are tools Simpson Strong-Tie has created to assist users in designing and building with engineered wood products (EWP). They consist of a series of short fliers (available as PDFs on strongtie.com for printing or mobile use) guiding builders on how to select economical and efficient connection solutions — that go beyond IRC prescriptive designs — for the I-joist manufacturer of their choice. Over the years, Simpson Strong-Tie has partnered with EWP makers to develop engineered solutions specifically tailored to the dimensions and characteristics of each manufacturer’s particular products.

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Building Connections at Washington State University

In 2021 SImpson Strong-Tie hosted a “Building Connections” symposium at Washington State University. The well-attended event provided our team the opportunity to teach WSU engineering students about the construction industry, common construction methods, our products and our company. Ryan Edwards, Simpson Strong-Tie Senior Business Specialist for Mass Timber and Offsite Construction, co-hosted the symposium and in this blog post reflects on the experience.

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Touring Tye Gilb Lab: An Architectural Engineering Student’s Perspective

Addie Albro is an architectural engineering student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She’s working on completing her senior project while learning how to design with steel, timber, masonry, and concrete. We recently had the opportunity to host Addie and other Cal Poly undergrads at our Tyrell Gilb Lab in Stockton, California. She shared her experience visiting the lab and what inspired her to enter the engineering field.  

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LTTP2 — an Update to a Classic Light Tension Tie

It would give you an incomplete idea of the new LTTP2 light tension tie if we didn’t first discuss the original LTT series. The LTT20 tension tie first appeared in our 1987 Connectors for Wood Construction catalog as a post-pour, wood-to-concrete connector. The LTT20 installed with nails only, but we realized we could add holes for bolts, so the LTT20B gave the customer the option to use either nails or bolts. Around the same time, we created the narrower LTT19 for installation on 2x joists or purlins. For more than 30 years, the LTT19 and LTT20B quietly anchored walls to roof diaphragms or shearwall posts to foundations. Continue Reading

Meet the Engineers of Simpson Strong-Tie 

Learn about our engineering department and the many hard-working people that help us with the innovation, research and development of our products. Our engineers are innovative problem solvers who apply the principles of science, math and technology to help give us a better understanding of how structures perform, advance our design technology, and improve building safety. Our research and development activities have led to many advances in the building industry. Over the years, we’ve developed countless products that help ensure structural safety and reduce cost and have created new construction systems to improve the way structures are designed and built. Read on to learn more about the various roles within our engineering department and hear a few of our engineers say what they enjoy most about working at Simpson Strong-Tie. 

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Introducing the Simpson Strong-Tie 2021 Excellence in Engineering Award Winners 

We’ve created a new, annual Excellence in Engineering award to honor and recognize the outstanding contributions of individuals in our Engineering department.

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Engineering Scholarships for 2022–2023 College Students 

Attending college next year? Consider applying for scholarships to ease the financial burden of college tuition. Even better, some scholarships have mentorship programs that can provide individuals with networking opportunities and more. When applying for college scholarships, keep in mind that each scholarship has its own qualifying criteria to address in your answers or materials. The list below concentrates on scholarships for those interested in engineering or STEM-related fields of studies. You’ve worked hard to qualify for college, so don’t miss out on financial help you may also qualify for! 

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Field-Adjustable Sloped and Skewed Hangers — Introducing New LSSR Sizes

With the recent introduction of our new LSSR rafter hangers for 2x lumber, we thought we’d provide some background on how these new hangers were developed and why.

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How a Top US Homebuilder Turbocharged Market Growth and Managed the Job Start Process with the Scalable LotSpec Solution from Simpson Strong-Tie

As one of the top 10 private homebuilders in the US (and one of the top 25 overall), Gehan Homes has explored its fair share of technologies promising efficiency and productivity gains. When it came to pulling home designs, plans, elevations, and options into full job start packets (JSPs), the Texas-based homebuilder managed to generate about 400 JSPs per year before the productivity cost of eight hours each began to limit growth.

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