Heavy Frame Construction And Wood Light Frame Construction – Terminologies / Notes

Trus Joist I-beam (TJI)

 Like wooden I-beams, fabricated w/plywood or OSB web piece fitted into grooves of chord members of solid
wood or LVL Designed to replace standard solid wood joists.

Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL)

aka Thin-glue-laminated framing
 Fabricated by gluing thin veneers of lumber together. An engineered wood product that uses multiple layers
of thin wood assembled with adhesives. It is typically used for headers, beams, rimboard, and edge-forming
material.

Glu-Lam Framing advantages

 Strong, dimensionally stable framing member that can be used like solid framing lumber
 Can be used for headers or beams in place of studs

Glue-laminated Construction
aka "Glulams"
 Individual pieces of lumber glued together to finish under factory conditions;
 Manufactured in standard widths, 1.5" actual depth, so overall depth is some multiple of 1.5" depending
on number of laminations.
 In tight curve, .75" pieces are used.

Glu-Lam Uses
 Used where required for heavy loads or long spans, and simple sawn timber not available.
 Good for unusual shapes - ie. arches, tapered forms, pitched shapes.

Glu-Lam advantages
 Allowable stresses are higher than solid timber bc wood can be selected w/out defects.
 Seasoned + manufacturing under controlled conditions.

Truss Assembly
 Factory-made assemblies consisting of small wood members (nom 2x4, 2x6), held w/toothed plate
connectors.
 Can be parallel top & bottom chords for floor framing or sloped upper chords for roof framing.

Truss Use
 Can be used for residential and light construction.
 Common spacing is 24" on center.
 Floor trusses up to 40' long; Roof trusses up to 70'.

Heavy Timber Construction

 Exterior walls of non-combustible masonry or concrete & interior columns, girders, beams, planking.

Heavy Timber Minimum Dimensions

 Interior columns nominal 8"x8".
 Beams & girders 6" wide, 10" deep.
 Masonry walls must be fire-cut.

Prepared by Adrian R. Toisa

Planking
aka Decking
 Solid or laminated timber that spans beams; has tongue & groove edging so pieces fit solidly together and
load can be distributed among adjacent pieces.
 Intended for greater span btw beams than btw closely spaced joists
Common spans 4' to 20'.

Decking advantages
 Satisfies code for heavy timber construction.
 Easy install.
 Attractive appearance .
 Efficient use of material bc planking is floor structure + floor & ceiling finish.

Balloon frame
 A wooden building frame composed of closely spaced members nominally 2 inches in thickness, in which
the wall members are single pieces that run from the sill to the top plates at the eave.

 Advantages: easily constructed by a single carpenter and joints can be put together easily with a few nails.

 Disadvantage: studs was too long to find naturally in forest and to erect efficiently. Furthermore, the tall
hollow spaces between studs acted as multiple chimneys that spreads fire to the upper floors; firestops were
needed to be install to prevent this hazard.

Joist
 One of a parallel array of light, closely spaced beams used to support a floor deck or low-slope roof.

Rafter
 A framing member that runs up and down the slope of a steep roof.

Firestop
 A wood or masonry baffle used to close an opening between studs or joist in a balloon or platform frame in
order to retard the spread of fire through opening.

Platform frame
 A wooden building frame composed of closely spaced members nominally 2 inches in thickness, in which
the wall members do not run past the floor framing members

 Advantage: It uses short, easily handled lengths of lumber for the wall framing. Its vertical hollow spaces are
automatically stopped by the platform framing at each flooor. Its
platforms are convenient working surfaces for the carpenters who build the frame.

 Disadvantages: platform constitutes a thick layer of wood whose grain runs horizontally. This leads
inevitably to a relatively large amount of vertical shrinkage in the frame as excess moisture dries from the
wood, which can cause distress in the exterior and interior finish surfaces

Sheathing (what is it & why is it used?)

 The rough covering, typically of plywood & OSB panels, applied to the outside of the roof, wall, or floor
framing of a light frame structure. It is used to brace the wood frame against wracking from lateral forces
caused by wind or earthquake forces.

Prepared by Adrian R. Toisa

Header
 Lintel; band joist; a joist that supports another joist; in steel construction, a beam that spans between
girders; a brick or other masonry unit that is laid across two wythes with its end exposed in the face of the
wall

Rim joist (band joist)

 a wooden building joist running perpendicular to the primary direction of the joints in a floor and closing off
the floor platform at the outside face of the building

Subfloor (how is it attached to joists & why?)

 It is sheathing for the floor which acts as a load bearing surface beneath a finish floor. It is installed such a
way that uncut 4' x 8' floor panels falls directly over joists and to add stiffness, panels are laid down with its
grain perpendicular to the joist. Glue is then applied on the joist which the boards sits to prevent squeaking
and further increase stiffness. They are nailed at 16" or 24" on center between joists.

Stud
 One of an array of small, closely spaced, parallel wall framing members; a heavy steel pin

Sole/ bottom/ sill/ mud sill plate

 The horizontal piece of dimension lumber at the bottom of the studs in a wall in a light frame building

Top plate
 The horizontal member at the top of a stud wall.

Ceiling joist
 A structural support typical in the triangle trusses of Gable & Hip Roof

Ridge beam (& how is it supported)

 An alternative method of structural support to ceiling joist in the triangle trusses of Gable & Hip Roofs which
eliminates the joist to expose the sloping underside of the roof as the finish ceiling

Types of roof styles

1) Flat Roof 2) Shed or Single-pitch Roof 3) Gable Roof 4) Hip Roof 5) Gambrel Roof 6) Mansard Roof

Wracking
 Forcing out of plumb

Batter board
 Basically, a mini structure built as an offset of the actually building's corners so that strings can be stretch to
and from each batter board to indicate edges of the building. The purpose of this is to evacuate while
maintaining constant knowledge as where the building should be.

Rough carpentry
 framing carpentry, as distinguished from finish carpentry

Sill plate & sill sealer

 The strip of wood that lies immediately on top of a concrete or masonry foundation in wood frame
construction; the horizontal bottom portion of a window or door; the exterior surface, usually sloped to shed
water, below the bottom of a window or door

Prepared by Adrian R. Toisa

Sill sealer
 A resilient, fibrous material placed between a foundation and a sill to reduce air infiltration between the
outside door and indoors.

Bridging
 Bracing or blocking installed between steel or wood joists at midspan to some cases, to permit adjacent joist
to share loads.

Blocking
 Pieces of wood inserted tightly between joists, studs or rafters in building frame to stabilize the structure,
inhibit the passage of fire, provide a nailing surface for finish materials, or retain insulation.

Trimmer/jack stud & king stud

 King stud − stud to left or right of a window or door that is continuous from the bottom plate to the top plate
Trimmer or jack − stud to the left or right of a window or door that runs from the bottom plate to the
underside of a lintel or header. It supports the lintel or the header

Cripple stud
 A wood wall framing member that is shorter than full length studs because it is interrupted by a header or
sill.

Shear wall
 A sheathed wall that resist lateral forces.

Hold‐down
 A steel angle plate bolted to the corner base of a shear wall and anchor to the either the floor or foundation
below to prevent the wall unit from pulling up off the story or foundation below.

Let‐in diagonal brace

 Diagonal bracing members, either temporary or permanent, installed to stabilize a structure against lateral
loads.

Collar tie
 A piece of wood nailed across two opposing rafters near the ridge to resist wind uplift.

Rake
 The bottom horizontal edge of a steep roof.

Truss
 A built-up frame employed on a long span roof unsupported by intermediate columns or partitions.

 A design of a series of triangles used to distribute load and stiffen the structure spacing offering flexibility for
the interior as well as strenght and rigidity.

Prepared by Adrian R. Toisa