Noah Humberston
Username
Noah Humberston
Proposer First Name
Noah
Proposer Email
noahhumberston@gmail.com
Proposer Last Name
Humberston
Proposer Company/Organization
APA - The Engineered Wood Association
Proposer Phone
(484) 663-4488
Proposer Job Title
Engineered Wood Specialist (Northeast Region)
Boston 2023 Areas of Focus
Proposer Additional Info
Noah is an Engineered Wood Specialist based in the Philadelphia area and serves the Northeast Region. He works to provide construction and design direction for the use of APA member company engineered wood products. When Noah joined APA, he brought four years of structural design experience at a national structural engineering firm with him. He has worked with both national and regional builders in the design of both single family and multifamily structures using engineered wood products. Noah is a graduate of the University of Delaware with a B.S. in Civil Engineering.
Proposed Session Description
Wood structural panels commonly used as wall sheathing can also act as an air barrier, resist loads from extreme winds, support siding and trim and much more. This session discusses how wood structural panel wall sheathing balances structural integrity, energy efficiency and cost effectiveness with a single product that is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Following a review of load path and failure mode basics, framing best practices and details for high wind resistance are presented.
Diversity and Inclusiveness
The only way I would argue that my session addresses these issues is that low to no additional cost options are presented for the use of common and economical building products. There is no big pricetag associated with the solutions presented in this session which thereby make them available to enhance buildings at all price points.
Learning Objectives
Identify easy solutions for common building challenges using wood structural panel wall sheathing
Identify the functions of a building’s structural shell and energy envelope
Describe how to balance structural integrity, energy efficiency and cost effectiveness in building design
Identify methods to simplify the support of common cladding materials
Has this session been presented before?
Yes
When and Where?
Yes, this session was presented by APA as a national webinar by one of my colleagues over two years ago and I recently presented this session at the 2023 New England Building Official Education Association (NEBOEA) Conference at UMASS Amherst. I do not believe APA has presented for NESEA before though.
Target Audiences Level of Expertise
Level 1 - No prior knowledge needed.
Session Format
Presentation followed by facilitated discussion or breakout groups
Session Format Details
Depending on audience size, I will plan to either take questions and facilitate some discussion throughout the presentation or ask everyone to hold their questions for discussion following the conclusion of the presentation. There is a lot of information to get though in this presentation. While it can be facilitated in 60 minutes, 90 minutes would allow for more audience engagement.
Recommended Length
60-minute session
90-minute session
Strongest Content Connection - Boston 2023
Comments about your speaker roster
The recorded webinar linked here is essentially the same session presented by my colleagues located in other regions of the U.S. and Canada. I've made some edits to this session to remove the references to Canadian building, add in a brief overview of the common lateral load (wind) failure modes, and to make reference to the Resilience Guides for Builders and Developers published this year by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development. I would venture to say my dynamism is comparable to that in Cory's recorded presentation. I would of course opt to have more audience engagement compared to his webinar though.
Reviewer 1
Nielson, Christopher
Reviewer 2
Graeff, Marcell
Proposal #
118
Committee Decision
Being Considered
Presenters
Full Description
This session directly takes on the theme of climate resilience. With climate change comes more frequent and extreme high wind events including powerful thunderstorms, hurricanes, and even tornadoes in areas that haven't needed to worry much about these issues historically. The session addresses practical steps builders and designers can take to make their buildings resilient to high wind events. Framing details using common commodity grade building products are presented that demonstrate how high wind uplift and lateral forces can be effectively resolved. Several of those details and other APA recommendations have been included in the recently published Resilience Guides for Builders and Developers by the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). APA staff have observed hundreds of framing sites after storms to identify the most common structural pitfalls in light framed wood construction. Pictures and causes of those failures are discussed in this presentation. This session also reviews concepts that affect building energy efficiency, including raised-heel roof trusses, use of wood structural panels as an air barrier, and Advanced Framing. A brief overview of the sustainable aspects of wood building products relative to other common building materials concludes the session.