Engineered Lumber
Blues
To the Editor:
The article, "Engineered Beams
and Headers" (8/91), really caught
my attention. We are currently
building a 6,000-square-foot house
and have used Arrowood exclusively
for all the floor joists and
rafters. While we have had our
difficulties, the overall finished
product is strong and looks good.
However, unlike Bill Smith (as
quoted in the article) our experience
working with Arrowood has
been one headache after another.
A host of problems has stemmed
from two inconsistencies: First, the
height varied from the factory spec
of 111/4 inches to as much as
1111/16 inches. Try working with a
9/16-inch tolerance when running
solid blocking. Second, the thickness
also varied from the factory
spec of 11/2 inches to as much as
113/16 inches.