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.
