Demonstration of Hardwood Trusses in Residential Construction Projects
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Demonstration of Hardwood Trusses in Residential Construction Projects
Published Date
2002-01
Publisher
University of Minnesota Duluth
Type
Technical Report
Abstract
The hardwood lumber industry is a key component of the forest products industry in the Lake
States and Northeast regions of the United States. Two of the primary lumber species include
sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and red maple (Acer rubrum). High grade lumber from these
species has an extremely high value, often exceeding $1,500/thousand board feet (M bdft).
Lower grades of maple including pallet lumber usually sell for $200 to $275/M bdft. A
cooperative Lake States research team developed the technical and economic background
necessary for using low grade maple as structural components in metal-plate trusses and
prefabricated wood I-joists. Specific projects that have been completed addressed the following
research topics: lumber yield and recovery, lumber properties, acce\erated drying schedules, truss
plate fasteners, truss fabrication and testing, I-joist fabrication and testing, and :financial
assessments.
An important step prior to implementation was the development of several demonstration
projects using structurally graded maple lumber. A relationship was established with the Duluth
Chapter of Habitat for Humanity International and a demonstration project was developed to use
the red maple lumber in trusses for two houses with attached garag~s that were to be built during
the summer of 2001. To minimize concerns oflumber length and s_pecies, we chose to use red
maple as truss webs with spruce-pine-fir (SPF) chords in the house section and red maple for
both the truss chords and webs in the attached garage. Red maple cants were obtained, sawn into
2- by 4-in. dimension lumber and dried using an accelerated kiln schedule. Structural grading
was completed using an E-computer with visual overrides for #2 a11d #3 grade lumber. Truss
designs were completed and sealed by a professional engineer and the trusses were manufactured
by Kylmala Truss in Duluth, Minnesota. Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) personnel
were involved in the setting of the trusses. There were no specific problems noted from the use
of red maple in either the house or garage trusses.
A second demonstration project was designed to use sugar maple lumber as web stock in a
standard storage truss in a garage built in rural Duluth, Minnesota. Kiln-dried hard maple
remaining from earlier projects was graded using a commercial E-computer. The lumber was
then provided to Kylmala Truss for use in manufacturing a 6:12 pitch garage truss that spanned
26 ft. The trusses were set by NRRI personnel and covered with oriented strandboard (OSB)
sheathing. There were no specific problems or challenges identified from using hard maple in
the trusses, although it was difficult to hand nail siding to the hard maple web on the gable end
trusses.
Description
Prepared for: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI 53705; Wisconsin Department of Commerce, Madison, WI 53717. NOTE: The original file was uploaded in June 2017, but was missing two pages: pages 12 (with Figures 13 and 14) and 34 (with the "Maple Trusses" article) of the corrected file. The corrected file was located and uploaded in September 2023.
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Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota, Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811
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Brashaw, Brian K; Vatalaro, Robert J; Ross, Robert J; Wang, Xiping. (2002). Demonstration of Hardwood Trusses in Residential Construction Projects. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/188572.
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