About the author ⁄ Jason Smart, P.E.

Jason Smart is Director of Fire Engineering at the American Wood Council. (jsmart@awc.org)

2024 IBC and IFC Mass Timber Changes

In the 2024 International Building Code (IBC) and 2024 International Fire Code (IFC), several changes were made to mass timber provisions, including the following:

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Oct, 2023 By John “Buddy” Showalter, P. E., M. ASCE and Jason Smart, P.E. In Code Updates

Anatomy of a Mass Timber Bearing Intersection

Proper design of bearing intersections between mass timber members is critical to the overall success of a mass timber project. The details of these intersections have a significant effect on cost and schedule. This article focuses on the multi-story column condition, where loads from the column above need to be transferred down through the beam-column intersection, and the beams are supported using a bearing pocket instead of a bearing hanger (Figure 1).

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Oct, 2021 By D. Scott Nyseth, P.E., S.E. and Jason Smart, P.E. In Structural Connections Comments 0

2021 Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic

The 2021 Edition of Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS) was approved as an American National Standard on July 22, 2020, with the designation ANSI/AWC SDPWS-2021 (Figure 1). The 2021 SDPWS was developed by the American Wood Council’s (AWC’s) Wood Design Standards Committee (WDSC) and contains provisions for the design of wood members, fasteners, and assemblies to resist wind and seismic forces. Notable revisions are summarized below (also see Table 1 online for a summary of changes by Chapter):

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Jul, 2021 By Philip Line, P.E., Bradford Douglas, P.E., Jason Smart, P.E. and Peter J. Mazikins, P.Eng In Codes and Standards Comments 0

2015 Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic

The 2015 Edition of Special Design Provisions for Wind and Seismic (SDPWS) was approved as an American National Standard on September 8, 2014, with the designation ANSI/AWC SDPWS-2015 (Figure 1). The 2015 SDPWS was developed by AWC’s Wood Design Standards Committee (WDSC) and contains provisions for design of wood members, fasteners, and assemblies to resist wind and seismic forces. …

Jul, 2015 By Philip Line, P.E., John “Buddy” Showalter, P.E., Michelle Kam-Biron, P.E., S.E. and Jason Smart, P.E. In Articles, Codes and Standards Comments 0

Design of Fire-Resistive Exposed Wood Members

The model building codes in the U.S. cover virtually every safety-related topic associated with construction of buildings. Fire-related issues comprise a surprisingly large portion of the model codes. Designing for fire safety is a complex and multifaceted issue. Discussion in this article is limited to design of exposed wood members. Additional information on building code requirements for wood can be found in the American Wood Council’s (AWC) Code Conforming Wood Design documents, available for free download. …

Jul, 2014 By Bradford Douglas, P.E. and Jason Smart, P.E. In Articles, Code Updates Comments 0

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