It’s no secret I think American Pole and Timber is one of the coolest companies because of their ability to make just about anything and their willingness to say yes to just about any project thrown at them. There are not many companies that could handle the diversity of products American Pole and Timber handles but they have been doing it for nearly two decades now with steady growth.

Aside from their pdf of timber truss designs, you will be interested in the timber truss options they offer and, especially, how they ship exceptionally large timber trusses – timber trusses that are too large to fit on a truck assembled.

Shipping Large Trusses

Kind of off-topic here… They ship nationwide but some of their trusses are GIANT so they actually build the timber truss in their shop in Houston, TX (fully assembled) to ensure the truss is made properly and meets all the required dimensions and specs once assembled. They then mark each component and disassemble each truss for shipment. Depending on the client and truss, they will send one of their employees with the truss to guide and/or help with the reassembly on the job site.

After 10 years in and around the lumber business, I still think that’s pretty cool.

Think about it – “treated” wood with zero chemicals – 100% natural wood.

Thermally Modified Wood
Although thermally modified wood has been proven effective in Europe since the mid-90′s, it is new to the US where it took on the brand name Nature’s Choice. Developed in Finland, thermally modified wood is kind of baked (for lack of a better word) until the composition of the wood changes such that it is no longer attractive to termites, fungus, and other forms of decay. Using special kilns, the wood is heated for about a day to just below flash point and cooled using carefully timed applications of water to maximize its strength and longevity.

As Green As It Gets
Nature’s Choice (http://www.NaturesChoiceDeck.com) is as green as it gets. It is made of easily renewable southern yellow pine from managed forest land and produced in the heart of Amish country in production facilities that use relatively zero electricity. It’s seriously green from start to finish. It contains no chemicals so you don’t have to worry about your gardens, lawn, ground water, or kids. And, finally, since it is long-lasting the wood will not need to be replaced often. However, when you do replace it the wood can be thrown away, re-used, or even burned (unlike chemically pressure-treated wood).

This is the stuff dreams are made of, eco-speaking.

Physical Properties
Its strength is up to par, too. You can cut, drill, nail, screw, and everything just like regular wood. No special fasteners are required but you can use a hidden deck fastener system is you wish. In other words, it is regular wood – except, you know, with no chemicals.

Here are the stats from Nature’s Choice Deck technical info page.

Beautiful Appearance – Darker Color
Nature’s Choice is made of premium grade (better than #1) southern yellow pine so the boards are about 100% free of wane and nearly totally free of knots. The faces of the boards are different (one side smooth, the other grooved) and since the wood is so highly selected, the boards are essentially reversible.

The thermal modification process darkens the wood to a beautiful light-mahogany color. The picture above is unstained pine (really!). See the Nature’s Choice Deck website for more pictures. According to the guys at Building Products Plus, all of the pictures on the site (as of the date of this writing) are southern yellow pine. Hard to believe but see the comparison image here.

Dimensions & Availability
Currently, Nature’s Choice thermally modified wood is available in 1″x5″ (actual dimensions) deck boards. They say they will offer more in the future. In fact, they mentioned plans for large timbers made with the stuff and maybe even pilings. Yes, chemical-free pilings. These guys are kind of quietly leading their own green movement.

Expect to see more Nature’s Choice Deck in the future. People have been looking for this sort of thing and it’s finally here.

In October 2008, Mountain Architects launched a new line of log cabin plans referred to as the Rustic Luxury™ series. With each passing month, people worldwide have watched the team at Mountain Architects transform simple, low-end cabin designs that log home enthusiasts know all too well, to distinctive cabin designs blending rustic elements with high end finishes and inspiring design attributes, at attractive turnkey costs.

With the close of the first month in 2009 just around the corner, Mountain Architects releases its final design in the Rustic Luxury™ Log Cabins & Plans series. The Truckee log cabin plan is a unique log post and beam design with stone integrated throughout. This single-level log cabin home, with just over 1,500 square feet of livable space, brings together rustic tradition with a touch of elegance. Its layout is simple yet offers the perfect blend of warmth combined with attractive natural materials.

Work one-on-one with Mountain Architects to design your own Rustic Luxury™ Log Cabin home. Or, let Mountain Architects modify the Truckee to fit your own lifestyle and architectural taste:

– Change its layout or size to accommodate your lifestyle.
– Choose between handcrafted log, milled log, and timber frame, in combination with other materials that will make your home stand out.
– Make your own architectural statement by varying roof ridge lines, roof pitches, corners, etc.

Learn more about how you can customize a log home plan with Mountain Architects.

A look over the past three months reveals an eclectic and moving collection of cabin plans designed for discriminating homeowners who seek the best in mountain style living, but in a smaller, more intimate home. The Rustic Luxury™ series kicked off in October 2008 with the introduction of the Telluride, a milled log cabin home featuring a unique combination of stone, bark siding, beautifully crafted character logs, glass and milled log walls. In November, the team at Mountain Architects released the Trian, a cozy timber frame cabin home complete with barreled tile roofing and stone commonly seen in the French countryside. And, more recently, Mountain Architects showcased its December plan, the Targhee — a three-level cabin design with a master suite on each level. View the entire Rustic Luxury™ Log Cabin collection at http://www.precisioncraft.com/loghomeplans/LuxuryLogCabins.html.

What’s next for the team at Mountain Architects? As a sponsor of the 2009 GREEN LOG Homes & Lifestyle Awards (an awards program created to shine the spotlight on those companies that are working to provide green alternatives in the building industry), Mountain Architects now turns their attention to highlighting green design techniques. Stay tuned for an exciting kick off to a 3 month long endeavor focused on designing and building green, including examples of green homes designed and built over the last couple of years.

Together, Mountain Architects and PrecisionCraft offer a proven team approach. From initial design through completed construction, your Mountain Architects and PrecisionCraft team is there every step of the way. Visit PrecisionCraft’s Log Homes & Timber Frame Design Center at www.precisioncraft.com to learn more about creating your dream home!

These sites and pages about covered bridges relate perfectly to the last LumberTalk post about wood bridges.

Wood bridges in New York.

Vermont’s covered bridges by county.

Covered bridges in Oregon by county.

Harrisburg, TN Covered Wood Bridge

This covered bridge in Harrisburg, TN has an interesting history and the story explains a little about how covered wood bridges were built back in the day. The townspeople contributed money (willfully, not through taxes) and the town gave the rest.

Affordable:? Depending on the design, wood bridges can be built for as little as 1/3 the cost of steel and concrete bridges and have lower maintenance costs as well. Building wood bridges over crossings might be a great way for landowners and small municipalities to save money as well as add aesthetic value to their byways.

Simple:? Many practical wood bridge designs require less skilled labor (no welders or concrete workers and smaller equipment) to assemble and less time than steel and concrete bridges.? Simplicity equates to a savings of time and money.

Durable:? Effectively designed and constructed wood bridges should easily last 50 years and there are many that have been in services for much longer than that. Wood treatments and coatings available today should protect the foundational structure of a bridge so it will last virtually forever.

Materials for Wood Bridges

Like any project, wood bridges will last longer when built with three major components in mind.

• Quality Design
• Quality Materials
• Quality Construction

We will focus on quality materials for wood bridges here.? You can buy bridge plans or have yours custom engineered and you can hire a bridge building company, local contractor, or build the bridge yourself with the proper design and instructions.

Use properly treated wood for your bridge components, especially for the pilings and other foundation materials.? .60 pcf treated wood should be sufficient for most locations but if you are building around saltwater, you should probably use a stronger treatment for the foundation components – especially if the bridge will actually be in contact with saltwater.

To add longevity to your bridge use poly coated wood like the stuff from American Pole And Timber (they also have a full line of bridge timbers and bridge decking) for all of the ground contact components.? It is sprayed onto treated wood before installation and provides an extra layer of protection that should easily add another 25 years to the wood (at least). It actually bonds to the wood but you can still cut, nail, or drill into it.? It is really good stuff – initially designed for use on saltwater marine pilings (where is has a 25 year warranty).

Your wood bridge’s hardware should all be stainless steel, galvanized, or zinc coated.? There are other special hardware coatings out there but stainless, galvanized, and zinc are proven and affordable.

Plans for Wood Bridges

Buy Wood Bridge Plans Online:? There are numerous places to buy wood bridge plans online – so many, that I will not even link to them here.

Bridge Plans from Competition:? Here are some great bridge designs and plans I found recently. It is a wood bridge building competition for University-level engineering students. “The? National Timber Bridge Design Competition? is open to student chapters of American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and Forest Products Society (FPS) in the United States and Canada. Joint or cooperative entries (ASCE and FPS working together) are eligible and even encouraged. A chapter may also submit multiple entries.”

The young folks in this competition come up with some creative, effective, and practical designs for wood bridges.? You might be able to apply a few of them to your wood bridges. Note:? That is not a suggestion to copy the designs or use them directly as reliable and tested plans but there are some great ideas there.

Book about How to Build Wood Bridges:? This is a really nice book that has some designs and plans for building wood bridges as well as plans for building other wood projects.

Wood bridges can certainly be built as a diy project. Please make sure you have your bridge professionally designed, though, or at least hire a professional contractor to help you. Using the right materials will not only improve the safety of your structure but will ensure that your bridge will be long-lasting as well. Wood bridges should be built to last – they should stand as legacies to be used for generations to come. That might sound nostalgic or something but, well, I guess it is.

Poles come in numerous sizes, species, grades, and treatment levels. Each of those factors affects price. The biggest factor affecting the delivered price of a pole (treated or untreated) is size – mostly length – and that can be broken into two main reasons.

1. Supply: Trees take a long time to grow and BIG trees are getting scarce.
2. Freight: Permits and special equipment are probably required for long lengths.

In fact, if you order an 80′ long pole today it is likely the tree you will receive is still in the forest today. Crazy, huh?

The chart does not appear clearly in the video. Here it is (below) so you can get a better look.

Don’t use this chart to bid your next project or anything. I simply wanted to make the point that around the 50′ length mark, the pole prices curve turns sharply north. Also notice that the incremental pole prices on the left get larger as well. Yes, it is certainly possible that you might pay $5,000 (delivered) for a 90′ pole. Don’t even ask about poles beyond 100′.

You should always design based on the needs of the structure (as opposed to what materials are cheapest) but “value engineering” is always important to keep budgets in check and projects affordable. With that, if you are building a structure that requires poles longer than about 50 feet, you might consider brainstorming ideas to design the structure so it can use shorter, less expensive, poles.

Basic Take Away about Pole Prices (in a rhyme): Under 20 feet, poles are cheap, beyond fifty, prices are ‘iffy.

Wood Utility Pole Treatments

Utility poles are usually treated with either pentachlorophenol, chromated copper arsenate, copper napthenate, or creosote. Whichever preservative treatment is used, the main goal of the treatment is to extend the life of the pole by rendering the wood useless as a food source for termites and other wood boring pests and to reduce the effects of decay caused by rot and decay. All of the treatments listed above provide excellent life spans for poles. They are usually chosen based on factors including climate where the poles will be installed, environmental impacts of the chemicals used, concerns around how the poles will be handled, and even individuals’ preferences.

The Biggest Problems for Wood Utility Poles

Most decay of wood utility poles happens at the ground line where the poles are often in contact with moisture which causes rot and decay. Wood utility poles do not have many other natural enemies other than the occasional fire, woodpecker, or car wreck. Wood utility poles are quite resilient and can withstand many natural conditions including high winds, acidic soils, and salty air – conditions steel and concrete poles may not withstand as well.

Increasing the Life of Wood Utility Poles

Properly treated wood utility poles are nearly guaranteed to last about 35 years without any inspections, maintenance, or preventative measures. However, the life span of utility poles can be drastically increased (easily doubled) through a regimen of periodic inspections and maintenance such as pole wrapping, which requires digging around the pole and literally wrapping the pole with a protective barrier. An excellent preventative measure is to coat the pole with the polymer wood coating from American Pole and Timber. The polymer coating must be applied before the pole is installed but provides a protective barrier that will prevent the need for labor intensive pole-wrapping in the future.

The study I mentioned at the beginning of this report actually suggests that utility poles can last more than 135 years (up to 260 years – yes, two, six, zero) but that over time other “degradation mechanisms” take their tolls. Typical maintenance programs are not geared towards correcting those issues which include pole top decay, pole splitting, decay at connections, and excessive weathering so the reasonable estimate of a wood utility pole should probably remain in the neighborhood of 75 years.

Applying Your New Knowledge of Wood Pole Life Spans

There is a great chance you are not in the utility business and just want to know how long your barn poles will last.? While there are no hard numbers on that – at least not that I have found YET – this study reveals that the life is probably longer than you might have even hoped.? Barn poles, fence posts, and small electric poles are treated with the same chemicals as utility poles and usually to the same retention levels using the same methods.? Though utility poles are held to higher standings of structural grading and specifications than your average barn pole you can probably expect the life spans to be similar. Again, the extended life span requires some periodic checks and maintenance.

If you are using treated poles or pilings around a marine environment, the rules are a little different since the surroundings are wetter and generally more dynamic and harsh (waves, changing tides, different organisms, constant contact with water).? Properly treated poles or pilings for freshwater applications can probably be made to last 30 years with proper preventative measures and maintenance.

Here’s some solid logic.? Think of all those old barns and fences that were built by your grandfather’s grandfather practically forever ago. While “they don’t make ‘em like they used to”, the treatments have improved.? You can expect your treated wood poles to last a lifetime.

Wood Bulkhead Materials List

Building a wood bulkhead is similar to building a privacy fence. You have posts (pilings), rails (wales), and pickets (sheets or sheeting). A bulkhead typically has great horizontal force applied against it, though, so it has more structural requirements than a fence. In order of front to back (water side to ground side) the parts of a wood bulkhead are:

• Pilings (can be round or square)
• Wales
• Center Match (sometimes call “sloppy tongue & groove”)
• Filter Cloth
• Tie Rods
• Deadmen
• Top Cap
• All the required Hardware (nails, screws, spikes, nuts, washers)

Attention: First, the materials required for YOUR wood bulkhead might be different from those I am showing below so please have your bulkhead designed and specified by a professional builder and/or designer. Also, be sure to use the proper materials for the best longevity. Using cheap materials to save money NOW is only wasting money in the long run. Use properly treated wood, galvanized or stainless hardware, and make sure the bulkhead is installed properly.

Treated Pilings

You can use round or square pilings. It is totally up to you. You might want to match your neighbors’ bulkheads or you might be concerned about costs (round pilings cost less). Either way, use properly treated wood – 2.5 pcf in saltwater and a minimum of .60 pcf in freshwater. For brackish (mixed fresh and salt) water, go with 2.5 pcf.

Wales

Wales are the horizontal boards (like the rails on a fence). Most wood bulkheads have two but some will have three or more. Wales are connected to the land-side of the pilings and will have the center match sheets nailed to them. A very common size used for wales is 3×8. You should use the longest lengths possible to minimize joints, which can become weak spots. You should be able to find 3×8-20′s from most marine construction suppliers. Many other sizes are commonly use depending upon the sizes of the bulkhead and the forces applied to it. I have seen wood bulkheads with 8×8 wales.

Center Match

Center match are sometimes called “sloppy tongue & groove” because the joint is a little loose to allow for swelling in the water so the edges will not break with regular expansion and contraction when the boards alternates between wet and dry.

Center match is usually nominal 2×10 with actual dimensions of 1.5″ x 8.9″. That is, because of the groove each board only spans 8.9 inches – very important to factor into your bulkhead materials list. I have heard of numerous people making an extra trip to the dealer (or paying for another delivery) because they were 5 pieces short of center match.

Filter Cloth

Filter cloth is kind of like a very thick felt. The purpose of filter cloth is to stop silt and dirt from seeping through the spaces between the center match while allowing water to drain and relieve hydrostatic pressure from the bulkhead after a rain – it helps maintain a cleaner appearance and keeps soil behind the bulkhead where it should be. While some people use plastic for this purpose, I truly believe a quality geotextile filter cloth is better because it allows the water to drain. Filter cloth is cheap – use it.

Tie Rods

Tie rods support the structure from behind to keep it from falling forward (into the water). Tie rods will be connected to the pilings on one end (via hold drilled from the front to back of each piling) and to deadmen on the other end. They are simply long rods with about 12″ of threads on each end for a nut.

Builders usually use tie rods that are about 3 times as long as the exposed height of the bulkhead being built. For example, a 4′ tall wall will commonly use 12′ long tie rods. The come in diameters including 1/2″, 5/8″, 3/4″, and larger. Some people use cables instead of tie rods but tie rods are stronger and they can easily be tightened if needed.

Deadmen

I have no idea why deadmen are called deadmen but I can make up some good stories about medieval times and using what you have to protect the castle if you want.

Dead men are treated posts – round or square and often cutoffs – used to “tie back” the bulkhead and support it from behind. Like the rest of the materials, the size of the deadmen used should be based upon the overall height of the wall and the load it bares.

Top Cap

Most top caps are made using a regular S4S 2×12. While they are not required, top caps will provide a little more structural integrity while giving the wall a more finished appearance from above.

Hardware

Use galvanized or stainless steel hardware when building on or near water. Screws are better than nails but more time-consuming. Generally, you will need the following hardware for your bulkhead:

• Tie Rods with 2 nuts and 2 washers for each
• Spikes (60 penny nails) to attach the wales to the pilings
• 16 penny nails (or larger) to attach the center match to the wales and the top cap to the wales
• Staples to attach the filter cloth to the center match

The materials list for a wood bulkhead is pretty simple and short. The bulkhead materials listed above will work for most wood bulkheads or retaining walls built around residential locations. If you need a reliable source for wood bulkhead materials, call the people at Building Products Plus in Houston, TX who let me take the pictures above in their yard. They ship nationwide so you can call them from anywhere.

Here’s a simple sketchcast from WoodScience (became Lumber Talk) on how to build a wood bulkhead.

Here is their list of roof truss terms.? You can also read them on their site.

Allowable Stress: The amount of force per unit of area permitted in structural member. Values for allowable stresses of wood can be found in “National Design Specification Supplement Design Values for Wood Construction.”

Allowable Stress Increase or Duration of Load Factor: A percentage increase in the stress permitted in a member, based on the length of time that the load causing the stress acts on the member. The shorter the duration of the load, the higher, the higher the percentage increases in the allowable stress.

Axial Force: A push (compression) or pull (tension) acting along the length of a member. Usually measured in pounds, kips (1000 lb.), tons (2000 lb.) or the metric equivalents.

Axial Stress: The axial force acting at a point along the length of a member, divided by the cross-sectional area of the member (usually measured in pounds per square inch).

Beam Pocket: A void or cutout built into truss to allow beam support.

Bearing: A structural support, usually a wall or beam, that occurs at the top or bottom chord of a roof or floor truss.

Bending Moment: A measure of the bending effect due tot he live load and dead load on a given truss chord member.

Bending Stress: The force per square inch of area acting at a point along the length of a member resulting from the bending moment applied at that point. Usually measured in pounds per square inch or metric equivalent.

Bottom Chord: A horizontal or inclined (e.g., scissors truss) member that establishes the lower edge of a truss, usually carrying combined tension and bending stresses.

Built-up Beam: A single member composed of two wood members stacked on top of each other and fastened together with connector plates, for the purpose of crating additional strength and stiffness.

Butt Cut or Nub Cut: Slight vertical cut at outside edge of truss bottom chord made to ensure uniform nominal span (usually ¼ inch).

Camber: An upward vertical displacement built into a truss bottom chord to compensate for deflection due to dead load.

Cantilever: The condition where both top and bottom chords extend beyond a support with no bearing at the extended end.

Chase Opening: An open panel in a floor truss for the purpose of running utilities through it, such as heating and air conditioning ducts.

Clear Span: Horizontal distance between interior edges or supports.

Combined Stress: The combination of axial and bending stresses acting on a member simultaneously, such as occurs in the top chord (compression + bending) or bottom chord (tension + bending) of a truss.

Compression: Force exerted on truss member that has a compressive or pushing effect on the member and its respective end joint.

Concentrated Load: Superimposed load centered at a given point (e.g., roof-mounted air conditioners).

Dead Load: Any permanent load such as the weight of the truss itself, purlins, sheathing, roofing, ceiling, etc…

Deflection: Movement of a truss (when in place) due to dead and live loads.

Design Loads: The dead and live loads, which a truss is designed to support.

Dual Pitch Truss: A truss that has two different pitches on its top chord.

Facia: Trim board applied to ends of overhang.

Force Diagram: Graphical solution of axial forces as they interact within the members of a truss.

Heel: Point on truss at which the top and bottom chords intersect.

Heel Cut: See Butt Cut.

Interior Bearing Truss: Truss with structural support in the interior truss span as well as at end points.

Lateral Brace: A member placed and connected at right angles to a chord or web of a truss for the purpose of providing lateral support.

Level Return: Lumber filler placed horizontally from the end of an overhang to the outside wall to for a soffit.

Live Load: Any loading which is not of a permanent nature, such as snow, wind, temporary construction loads, etc…

Nominal Span: The horizontal projection of the bottom chord of the truss.

Overhang: The extension of the top chord of a truss beyond the bearing support.

Panel Length: The center line distance between joints measured along the chords.

Panel: The chord segment defined by two succeeding joints.

Panel Point: The point of intersection where a web (or webs) meets a chord.

Peak: Point on truss where the sloped top chords meet. The highest point of the truss.

Plumb Cut: Top chord cut to provide for vertical (plumb) installation of facia.

Purlin: A horizontal framing member used to support sheathing or decking between two main load carrying structural members.

Reaction: Total load transmitted to its support by a given truss.

Saddle: An area where an additional roof slope and a ridge are created to facilitate drainage. Usually found behind vertical obstructions in the roof.

Stress Rated Lumber: Lumber that has been graded either visually or by machine by an approved grading agency and assigned allowable working stress values. All lumber used in engineered wood products such as trusses must be stress rated.

Scupper: An opening in a roof or parapet usually faced with metal flashing to drain water from the roof at a given point.

Sealed Drawings: Drawings prepared, checked, and/or approved by and having the seal of a registered professional architect or engineer.

Slope: (Pitch). The inches of vertical rise in 12 inches of horizontal run for inclined members (generally expressed as 3/12, 4/12, 5/12, etc…).

Splice Point: (Top & Bottom chord splice). The point at which two chord members are joined together to form a single member. It may occur at a panel point or between panel points.

Split Truss: Trusses used where fireplace intersects the truss span, parallel or perpendicular to the truss in the middle or inside of the house. A split truss can be defined also as a stub truss if it is longer than one-half the span or as a monopitch truss if less than one-half the span.

Square Cut: End of top chord cut perpendicular to the slope of member.

Tension: Forces being exerted on a truss member that creates a pulling apart of elongating effect.

Top Chord: An inclined or horizontal member that establishes the upper edge of a truss. Usually carrying compression and bending stresses.

Truss: An engineered pre-built structural component designed to carry superimposed dead and live loads. The truss members are coplanar and are usually assembled such that the members form triangles.

Uniform Load: A total load that is equally distributed over a given length, Usually expressed in pounds per lineal foot (plf).

Valley: A depression in a roof where two roof slopes meet.

Webs: Members that join the top and bottom chords to form the triangular patterns that give truss action, usually carrying tension or compression stresses (no bending).

You can learn more about the parts of structural timber truss on WoodScience (the old LumberTalk.com).

Truss construction is a dangerous roof or floor design when exposed by fire. The large surface-to-mass
ratio of the truss and many small, interconnecting members makes it vulnerable to early collapse.
Wood truss roof collapses have killed 28 firefighters over the past three decades. Truss roofs kill
firefighters working below the truss, on top of the truss, and outside the truss roof building. When a
timber truss roof collapses, it can cause the collapse of an outside bearing wall.

28 firefighter deaths in the last 30 years are attributable to truss collapses. It seems to me this problem can be approached from at least two sides. First, designers might be able to consider fire retardant materials that will decrease the chances of truss failures due to fire. Second, if firefighters are somehow made aware that they will be working in or around a structure that has timber trusses, they may be able to avoid them in case they do fail. I have absolutely no idea how to deal with the the second approach. Posting signs with the design qualities of the burning building does not seem feasible and there is not time to look up the structural design elements of a building before running into it. Looks like this is might be a design issue.