Wood Framing Book Recommendations

[bookowski]

Hi. Does anyone have any books that they would recommend for typical details for wood framing. I'm not looking for a timber design book - I'm comfortable that I can work out the demands and capacities with the textbooks that I have. Most of my experience is in concrete, steel, and masonry - I'm not very familiar with typical wood framing details.

Most of the textbooks that I have come across cover member capacities but don't really get into typical details. I'm starting to do some of this work and don't want to show atypical or wacky details.

Thanks

 

[msquared48]

I started with a book on carpentry, then perused a few sets of project drawings, and finally, went to a few jobites. Gave me a pretty good perspective and I went from there.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[rscassar]

It is very dependent on your locality. In my region, all the typical details which the workmen on-site know well are written in the industry "Tradak manual" or more recently AS1684 (Australian code for domestic timber-frame construction). The detailing in these manuals will be very different to what the typical North American practice is.

 

[a2mfk]

Agree with MS, get out on that jobsite as much as possible. Sure you can pick up some cheap used carpentry and framing books online or home depot has plenty of these types of books for DIYers.

What I learned is framers tend to overbuild, sometimes to their own detriment. Keep your details as simple as possible and always be repetitive, use the same connectors as much as possible as they only cost a couple of bucks at the most. Keep your nailing schedule very simple and overly-conservative because they will be over-nailing with the gun anyway. Be aware of conflicts with uplift connectors at the foundation, such as large openings and congestion of king studs and other framing members. In my neck of the woods the framers are often foreign and may not speak the language, so keep that in mind in your detailing and notes if that applies to where you are. It may be a reality like it or not.

 

[ash060]

Go to the AWC website and download their typical detail pdf. It is called WCD 1 - Details for Conventional Wood Frame Construction

 

[woodman88]

Attached is the AWC WCD1 handbook. You can also check the TPI (wood trusses) site and I-joist for their details.

Garth Dreger PE - AZ Phoenix area
As EOR's we should take the responsibility to design our structures to support the components we allow in our design per that industry standards.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

As much as I hate to say this, there are some pretty good architecural books and I suppose websites that have a plethora of examples.

Maybe they are for "non-knowing" architects.

 

[bookowski]

Woodman, thanks for the pdf - that's what I was looking for. I'll also check out some of the books that are out there.

I'll try to get out to jobsites as much as possible, unfortunately I have a small project now and need to get up to speed as much as I can. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[abusementpark]

Keep your details as simple as possible and always be repetitive, use the same connectors as much as possible as they only cost a couple of bucks at the most.

I'd definitely agree with that statement. I've tried to optimize wood framing connectors and quickly learned that it isn't worth it, because they'll never get it right. Just find a good, conservative way to envelope it.