As a technical representative for
a major wood I-joist manufacturer,
I work with architects,
designers, engineers, and builders to
help them to correctly use my company's
engineered wood products. Much
of my time is spent on job sites looking
at installations that range in quality
from exceptional to bad to alarming.
Builders who have used solid-wood
2x10s for 15 years know what they can
and can't do; when they switch to
wood I-joists, however, they're confronted
with a relatively new product
that has somewhat different structural
characteristics. I often see the product
misapplied even by experienced
builders.
Some of these errors are caused by
poor design, while others are the work
of subcontractors who alter the joists
after they've been installed.