With tariffs of 25% on foreign steel imports and 10% on aluminum signed by President Donald Trump on March 8, U.S. construction estimators and buyers have a bit more clarity what to expect when buying materials for future projects.
When President Trump said on March 1 that he would impose tariffs of 25% on foreign steel and 10% on aluminum, it immediately put construction estimators and executives, and the suppliers they rely on, into a holding pattern.
Based on recent fire test results, mass timber groups have adjusted product certification standards to require the use of cross-laminated timber with structural adhesives tested to demonstrate better fire performance.
If structural engineers have their way, building codes will take a historic leap forward in the next few years to allow higher-strength 80-ksi reinforcing steel, instead of 60 ksi, in reinforced concrete shear walls.
The long trade battle over the pricing of Canadian softwood-lumber shipments to the U.S. has become more intense, after a U.S. trade panel’s Dec. 7 ruling that the exports have hurt domestic producers.
Based on 2016 tests of a composite cross-laminated timber-and-concrete floor system, architect-engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has released guidance on how to analyze composite timber floors and predict their behavior in wood frames.
Two Applied Technology Council hazard-mitigation projects targeting nonductile concrete buildings are benefitting from information gathered during an Oct. 9-13 reconnaissance trip to Mexico City, less than a month after the Puebla-Morelos earthquake.
This year, seven major new-
construction fires at four- to six-story wood-framed residential sites caused property loss exceeding $400
million, says the National Fire Protection Association.