Partner Profile: Talking with AdvanT Steel’s Tim Liescheidt

Building Better Together: AdvanT Steel and NEXGEN MAXTERRA®

Tim Liescheidt is managing member of AdvanT Steel LLC, manufacturer of lightweight, high-strength, and cost-effective cold-formed steel (CFS) trusses for floor and flat roof applications. We sat down with Tim to discuss the advantages of pairing CFS trusses with NEXGEN MAXTERRA® MgO cement panels, how these assemblies offer an alternative to traditional wood framing, and why more owners, developers, and builders are taking notice.

Welcome, Tim. Talk to us about how you got started in the cold-formed steel industry.

I am an engineer by degree and have been working in the truss business since graduating college. I first moved into cold-formed steel (CFS) when the company I was working for developed a CFS truss product. Years later, CFS had gained broader acceptance and was commonly used in sloped roof applications. However, I felt like the industry was missing an opportunity to use it for floor and flat roof projects.

CFS is unique because you can roll-form it to any shape. Seeing that potential, we developed the AdvanT Truss Shape, an optimal solution for shallow/parallel chord applications.

What markets are best suited for the AdvanT Truss Shape?

Generally, CFS is most commonly used in Type I and Type II construction, where combustible materials may not be permitted or projects must meet certain fire-rating requirements. If a project is planned to be wood framed, it typically is because of cost, not performance. When wood framing isn't an option, CFS is a great choice.

We're working to make CFS floor trusses and flat roof trusses a more well-known option. For us, these projects typically include large hotels, multifamily buildings, assisted living facilities, student housing, and other residential structures.

What trends are you seeing in the construction industry?

Owners are still looking for lowest possible price. By combining our CFS products with a structural MgO subflooring system like MAXTERRA® to create a non-combustible UL H531 assembly, owners and developers can achieve lower insurance rates and significant cost savings.

Architects continue to seek out versatility, and CFS offers that compared to other non-combustible construction products.

How did you first learn about NEXGEN Building Products and begin using MAXTERRA® MgO cement panels?

When our company developed the AdvanT Truss Shape, we did it to provide a lightweight floor assembly comparable to wood truss and plywood framing but using higher performing, non-combustible materials. Traditional non-combustible floor assemblies use structural steel and concrete, which becomes very heavy. Composite joist assemblies can add 50 pounds per square foot (psf), while composite deck and hollow core plank can be in the 80 psf range. These methods force the rest of the structure to be heavier just to support the weight of floor.

We knew we could do a lightweight truss, but we needed a lightweight board that was non-combustible to eliminate the heavy concrete slab. We tried fiberglass-reinforced cementitious structural concrete panels, but they proved to be cost prohibitive. MgO boards were available to us, but the quality was questionable. The MAXTERRA® cement panels are the best of both worlds – the quality is very good and the price is right, making it attractive to us and contractors.

How do MAXTERRA® cement panels make an impact?

The weight savings versus other non-combustible assemblies is a big benefit. It also allows our sales team to not just offer trusses, but to offer a complete non-combustible floor solution with a 2-hour UL fire rating.

How do you see the future of CFS and MgO assemblies evolving?

Wood-framed buildings catching fire during construction can cause millions of dollars in damage to neighboring structures, vehicles, and more. A customer of ours experienced this firsthand when a wood-framed multifamily building in downtown Raleigh caught fire and burned to the ground. The smoke damaged his penthouse apartment, displacing him and his wife for more than six months.

Insurance companies are on the hook for this kind of damage, and insurance rates for new construction are likely to continue to rise. CFS truss and MgO assemblies are the perfect combination as a non-combustible alternative to traditional wood framing. It’s the same building strategy – just replace wood trusses with CFS, and swap out the 4x8 sheets of ¾-inch plywood for 4x8 sheets of ¾-inch MgO cement panels. Now you have the distinct advantage of no fire risk.

As insurance rate hikes for wood framing continue and more people become aware of how easily CFS can be installed, I believe we'll see CFS truss and MgO cement panel assemblies used on more projects that could otherwise be wood framed, especially when owners realize the cost savings of using non-combustible materials.

Thanks for your time, Tim.

Thanks for having me.

Learn more about AdvanT Steel and cold-formed steel truss solutions at www.advantsteel.com

See five ways cold-formed steel and MAXTERRA® can reduce building costs.