About the author  ⁄ Brent Maxfield, S.E.

Brent Maxfield is a Civil/Structural Engineer with the Special Projects Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah. (maxfieldba@churchofJesusChrist.org)

This article is a follow-up from the author’s article, Code Requirements for Residential Roof Trusses, in the March 2019 issue of STRUCTURE. (The terms in this article beginning with capital letters are defined in Section 2.2 of ANSI/TPI 1-2014, National Design Standard for Metal Plate Connected Wood Truss Construction, published by the Truss Plate Institute (TPI) – www.tpinst.org).

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This article outlines the related 2018 International Residential Code (IRC) and the 2018 International Building Code (IBC) requirements for residential truss engineering and delivery.

There are many roles played in the design and delivery of residential wood roof trusses. Engineers can play various roles in this process, and it is essential to understand which role you play. This article discusses the scope of work required of the various roles as defined by the various codes and standards for residential roof truss. If a building falls within the IRC, all roles can be played by non-engineers, unless the jurisdiction requires the construction documents to be prepared by a Registered Design Professional.

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Structural engineers know the mechanics of the seismic provisions of the International Building Code (IBC) and ASCE 7-10. They know how to get Ss and S1 for a site and apply the equations to calculate a seismic response coefficient (Cs) that is used to calculate the seismic base shear, which is used to size the seismic resisting elements of the building. However, many do not understand the background behind the equations and the coefficients.

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