PLAIN TALK FROM THE DEVELOPERS
Jim Boyd and W.C. Litzinger
Want to help building inspectors understand why UFO Ballistic NailScrews® are suitable? Take a look at our approach to helping inspectors avoid Paradigm Paralysis.
Paradigm Paralysis is the natural human resistance that accompanies major changes in industries searching for new solutions to old problems. In a word, executives are reluctant to leave their "comfort zones" by adopting new paradigms. But you can help them understand how improved fastening technology benefits everyone: producers, sellers, users, consumers…..everyone.
What are the prevailing paradigms in our industry?
1) Nails are specified in construction building codes.
ICC Evaluation Service, Inc. (www.icc-es.org) evaluates various nails as to whether or not they are in compliance with building codes (IBC, IRC, BNBC, SBC, UBC, and IOTFDC). Contractors use the ICC ES Report™ ESR-1539 http://www.icc-es.org/reports/pdf_files/ICC-ES/ESR-1539.pdf as a guide to select the appropriate fasteners for their projects.
2) Screws stay put better than nails.
Many design professionals insist on screws to avoid loose floorboards, squeaky stairs and wobbly
corner connections, especially when quality trumps cost.
When building codes don't include screws, inspectors are in a bind. They are afflicted with Paradigm Paralysis and need help to understand how screws can fit into their codes. Help inspectors by referring them to the ICC’s criteria for using wood screws as alternate fasteners to code specified nails. ICC's ES AC120, http://www.icc-es.org/criteria/pdf_files/ac120.pdf Acceptance Criteria for Wood Screws Used in Horizontal Diaphragms and Vertical Shear Walls addresses this problem by specifying side-by-side test methods to ensure that the screws will perform as well as the code prescribed nails.
3) Nails, which meet the codes, are more cost-effective than screws, and the builder is faced with the inevitable choice between economy and quality.
Today’s prevailing paradigm is, the only way to build an economical project and meet the minimum code requirements is to use nails. Is this paradigm valid? We do not think so.
The birth of the UFO Hybrid™ Fastener
The UFO Ballistic NailScrew® is a nail/screw Hybrid™ Fastener that brings together the best qualities of both nails and screws. UFO Ballistic NailScrews® can be economically driven in with a pneumatic nail gun, have holding power approaching that of a screw, and offer the added advantage of being capable of being removed after installation by screwing them back out with a screw driver.
BUT: “Will UFO Ballistic NailScrews® be acceptable to the building inspectors?”
Read the Preface of ICC AC120 which states that AC120 is not intended to prevent the use of fasteners not specifically prescribed, provided that the alternative is approved where the building official finds that the alternative design is satisfactory, complies with the intent of the code, and is equivalent in meeting performance standards.
Local officials with the authority to approve the project can take advantage of new paradigms without waiting for the regulators to catch up. The fact that pneumatically driven UFO Ballistic NailScrews® outperform their same sized nail counterparts (both smooth and ring shank) by 20% to 40% in various wood species makes them an acceptable alternative. In fact, in our withdrawal testing, smaller UFO Ballistic NailScrews® even outperformed larger (3” X .120) ring shank nails.
UFO has begun the slow process of complying with the bureaucratic process of approval. Before we took Ballistic NailScrews® to the market we performed our own third party tests and hired an accredited laboratory to perform Shear Tests, Bend Yield Strength Tests, and Pull-Out Resistance tests in accordance with ASTM D1761-88 and ASTM F1575-03 standard protocols. Please take a look for yourself at:
http://www.911-nails.com/nstesting.html
As you study our results you will see that the UFO Ballistic NailScrews® test results meet or exceed the required minimum Nail Bending Yield Strength of ASTM F1667-05 as discussed in ESR-1539 (para. 3.3.2). In the spirit of the side-by-side comparative test methodology specified in AC120, UFO Ballistic NailScrews® were compared alongside popular nails listed in Appendix B of ES-1539 that were purchased off-the-shelf in a major hardware store. Note the excellent results with UFO Ballistic NailScrews®. Your projects will benefit from this superior performance, and you will be able to show the building officials that you are using a new generation of fastener that meets the performance criteria of the building codes.
We will update progress on our website as we begin the ICC approval process. In the meantime, don’t be stuck in Nail vs. Screw Paradigm Paralysis.
You do not have to make a choice between economy and quality. Use the UFO Hybrid™ Fastener. If you are currently a nail user, convert to UFO Ballistic NailScrews® and enjoy the superior holding power. If you are currently a screw user, switch to UFO Ballistic NailScrews® and reap the labor cost savings without sacrificing quality.
Need more reasons to choose NailScrews®?