Software to Answer Structural Hardwood Construction Fears
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2024
DALTON, Ohio-based Stairbuilders and Manufacturers Association, a collective of stair industry professionals specializing in residential and commercial construction, announces that it has received funding from the USDA Forest Service’s Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity to expand markets for domestically grown and manufactured forest products. Since 2015, the Wood Innovations Funding Opportunity seeks to “expand innovative uses of wood, including as a construction material in commercial buildings, as an energy source, and in manufacturing and processing input for wood products used in framing homes, making paper
products, and more.”
With this grant, the SMA begins one of the most progressive projects to date: the development of a software tool to validate the use and design of hardwood stairs and guards for structural purposes. This easy-to-use tool will provide feedback as to an acceptable structure to correct mistaken notions about designing with wood in residential and commercial applications. This tool will provide a needed standard used nationally to replace anecdotal interpretation by enforcement and provide stairbuilders and manufacturers confidence that their processes result in compliant products. Wood stair and guard systems represent more than 50% of the finished wood in homes, but this vestige is disappearing in trending homes featuring vinyl, tile, or laminate floors and composite doors, trim, and cabinets. The trend for these higher carbon footprint products is also affecting the use of wood in stairways, particularly a decreased demand for domestic hardwood.
A scary statistic shows more than 60% of stairbuilders report paying engineers from $300 to over $3,000 to review or modify a single stair or guard design to comply with requirements for live loads related to the structure of stairs and guards. Having such a tool available will make it much more efficient to get designs approved by building officials, and it is more likely that wood will be used in both residential and commercial stairs and guards.
This grant will provide for structural component product testing conducted at Mississippi State University and full-scale testing and structural analysis the renowned engineering firm Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger in Boston, Massachusetts. The SMA was awarded $200,000 in grant money and must provide 1:1 matching funds to complete its testing and research which will come from a variety of resources including the generosity of SMA members volunteering their time and donating materials.
