Making a Difference: Where Work and Giving Back Go Hand in Hand

Gerard Garza, a Commercial Territory Sales Representative at Simpson Strong-Tie, shares his 3-year journey with the company. From his background in sales to his current role, he values building customer relationships. Gerard and colleagues volunteered for Extreme Makeover Home Edition, reflecting Simpson’s core values of  giving back, and having fun. He appreciates Simpson’s culture and looks forward to more volunteering opportunities. 

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Creating a Backyard Oasis: Building Our Dream Pavilion with Outdoor Accents® Hardware

Joel Houck of Simpson Strong-Tie shares the journey he took transforming his backyard into a family-friendly oasis with a pool and a stunning pavilion using Simpson Strong-Tie® Outdoor Accents® decorative hardware. In this post, Joel unveils the design process, delves into the construction details and shares the passion and effort that brought his outdoor space to life. 

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Stack Outdoor Style with The Awesome Orange’s Low-Profile DIY Firewood Rack

Sadie Mae John, aka The Awesome Orange, put together a DIY firewood rack built with Simpson Strong-Tie APRT connectors. Add basic tools and materials, and you can make a sturdy rack to keep your firewood organized and easily accessible. 

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Love Where You Work — One Woman’s Career Journey at Simpson Strong-Tie

Finding a career that fits you can be challenging. Luckily, after landing a Dealer Sales Representative role at Simpson Strong-Tie, Halye Vance found the right fit. Halye discusses her journey with Simpson Strong-Tie, what motivates her in her career, and why she loves where she works. 

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Introducing the Makers of Simpson Strong-Tie: Meet Production Planner Benjamin

Family is a great motivator for many, and that is certainly true for Benjamin Dotsey, a Production Planner at Simpson Strong-Tie. Originally from Ghana, Benjamin holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. With the goal of providing a better life and opportunities for his family and loved ones, he moved to the United States. Despite initial struggles finding the right job, he persevered and eventually found Simpson Strong-Tie, where he started out as a contractor stacking boxes. After six months, Benjamin’s hard work and patience were rewarded with a permanent position as a press operator in our Columbus warehouse.  

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DIY: How to Build a Picnic Table Using Screws

Looking to enhance your outdoor space? Make the most of meals and get-togethers in your yard by adding a picnic bench — a great, low-cost project that will give you extra seating and table space for barbecues, dinners and parties.   Continue reading “DIY: How to Build a Picnic Table Using Screws”

Builder Solutions Webinar Series: Pipeline Estimating Software

This summer we hosted a successful Builder Solutions Webinar series dedicated to highlighting innovative new product solutions to help get houses on the market faster. The thirdwebinar in the series lightly touched on our web-based material management and estimation logic software solution  Pipeline. Due to the popularity of the topic, we’re launching the Pipeline Webinar Series.   

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What You Should Know About Mass Timber Construction

Over the last decade — in outlets reaching from construction industry journals to the Boston Globe and the Economist; from CNN and Fast Company to Popular Mechanics; to Nautilus and TED talks — we’ve been hearing increasingly about mass timber and related phenomena: “CLT,” big wood, tall wood, tall timber, timber towers, ply-rises, plyscrapers, ply in the sky, super-ply, Brobdingnagian boards, and all manner of engineered arboreal futures.

So what’s the huge deal about mass timber? What on earth’s so good about wood? Is CLT the new CBD (for builders, that is)? Can ply really get that high? Is this just a big buncha buzz, or is something more solid behind it?

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Drop, Cover, and Hold On: International ShakeOut Day is October 17

Each year, an earthquake preparedness event known as the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill takes place around the world. The coordinated earthquake drill provides an opportunity for schools, businesses, homeowners and others to practice what to do once the ground starts shaking or swaying.
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FRCM – An Alternative to Shotcrete for Structural Repair and Strengthening of Concrete

This post examines several advantages of fabric-reinforced cementitious matrix (FRCM) applications over traditional shotcrete methods in the repair and reinforcement of concrete construction.
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