Tim Uhler writes in his awesome Awesome Framer's blog that his company recently had a project where the mechanical design required 13-inch x 9-inch rectangular holes for ductwork through the webs of 14-inch I-joists spanning 20-feet. While the design fell outside outside I-joist manufacturer LP's prescriptive Web Hole Specification chart in the manufacturer's I-joist guide, Uhler submitted the design to LP for approval, which was granted, and went ahead and posted the project on Instagram. What followed was a social media firestorm. He writes:
"425,000 views and nearly 400 comments later (about half were mine defending what happened) and I realized the need for education. I kept posting the references to prove that this was ok, but its hard to “reason someone out of something they didn’t reason themselves into” in the first place. Let’s just say there was quite a bit of vitriol including the classic “I don’t care what references you provide, common sense dictates…” It’s a shame that there is no testing and guidance from the manufacturers on this (insert snarky smirk emoji)."
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