Review of American Softwood Lumber Standard- PS 20

Jeffrey Havelin, P.E.

Course Outline

This (Four-hour) course will serve as an informative guide reviewing in detail the American Softwood Lumber Standard-PS 20, which was developed by the American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC) in accordance with the Procedures for the Development of Voluntary Product Standards of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Most of the plans requiring wood construction in the United States have been issued with a reference to the American Softwood Lumber Standard- PS 20. Typically such a reference would be found in the “General Notes” located on the plans or specifications. Therefore any Engineer or Architect that has sealed plans referencing this standard should be fully aware of the contents and the latest revisions.

This Standard is used for domestic production consumed in and exported from the United States, and for lumber imported into the United States and has been recently updated in September 2005. This Standard also provides a basis for the coordination of the grades of the various species of softwood lumber, the assignment of design values to lumber when called for, and the preparation of grading rules applicable to each species.

This course is based entirely on the National Institute of Standards & Technology Voluntary Product Standard PS 20-05 (American Softwood Lumber Standard).

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of course materials.

Learning Objective

This course will specifically review and provide an understanding of the National Institute of Standards & Technology Voluntary Product Standard PS 20-05 (American Softwood Lumber Standard), which include a review of the following topics:

• Heat treated (HT)- Lumber designation;
• Kiln dried (KD)-Lumber designation;
• Grade Mark requirements;
• “American Lumber Standard” (ALS) program lumber designation;
• Cubic Measurement;
• Saw-sized -Lumber designation;
• Rough -Lumber designation;
• Factory and shop -Lumber designation;
• Yard -Lumber designation;
• Structural -Lumber designation;
• Patterned -Lumber designation;
• Board rule tally;
• ASTM D 4444 Standard Test Methods for Use and Calibration of Hand-Held Moisture Meters; and
• Mechanical Grading.

Intended Audience

This course would be very informative for professional engineers and architects that are involved with any type of wood construction.

Course Content

This course is based entirely on National Institute of Standards & Technology Voluntary Product Standard PS 20-05 (American Softwood Lumber Standard).

The link to the course materials is as follows:

National Institute of Standards & Technology Voluntary Product Standard PS 20-05 (American Softwood Lumber Standard)

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

References

See course content source for related references.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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