A New Panelized Roof Design Approach for Offsite Fabrication of Light-Frame Wood Residential Construction Projects

Abstract

AbstractPanelized construction is gaining popularity within the industry as a primary construction method. In panelized construction, a building model is subdivided into subassemblies such as wall panels, floor panels, and volumetric roof modules for the purpose of manufacturing. Although this construction method is faster and offers many advantages compared to the traditional stick-built process, it is classified as partial panelized construction because the roofs of light-frame buildings are often either prefabricated as a single volumetric module or built on site. In this study, a novel roof system is proposed to improve the productivity of the panelized construction process for light wood-frame residential buildings. This unique system uses a holistic approach to design several roof components in consideration of structural requirements, manufacturing efficiency, and on-site installation sequence. This new system has the potential to eliminate the need for traditional wood truss-based roof assembly, allowing home manufacturers to produce the roof component in-house using their existing production facility. The proposed system subdivides the actual roof shape into several prefabricated panels, e.g., roof panels, ceiling frames, support walls, and gable end. The roof panels and support wall are produced in the wall production line using laminated strand lumber (LSL) and oriented strand board (OSB). These panels are then connected using efficient connection systems. A case study of a gable roof panel is presented in this paper to demonstrate implementation of the proposed approach. The results show that the gable type roof can be produced using typical wall and floor production lines with minimum effort for on-site installation by incorporating a new efficient connection design.