With over 50 years of experience in the woodwork industry including the past eight years with QCP, Joe has decided to retire…one more time.  We could always rely on Joe to step in and help out, share his knowledge and pretty much just go above and beyond the responsibilities and expectations of his position.  Although we will miss his good humor, dedication, humble manner and expertise in the woodwork industry, it’s hard not to wish him well in the next chapter of his life.  After all Joe and wife, Gypsy, have 11 grandchildren to watch grow and Alaska to explore.

“The AWI Quality Certification Program would like to sincerely thank Joe Fleck for his many years of service to QCP. Joe has been the consummate professional, always representing AWI and QCP in the best possible way and conducting independent assessments of architectural woodwork across the United States in a thorough manner. QCP will miss Joe’s knowledge and humor, but wish him well in his retirement,” QCC Executive Director Randy Estabrook said.

All of us at QCP hope retirement is everything you dreamed and more.  You deserve it.

Joe Fleck (above, front right) enjoys the QCP retirement dinner for him on August 14 at the Bungalow Lakehouse in Sterling, VA.  QCP Reps and QCC staff wish  him well.

In the pantheon of AWI and QCP technical topics, one of the most perennial is the adverse (sometimes catastrophic) effect that significant changes in humidity can have on woodwork. This is of course most often relevant during the installation phase of a project, when the jobsite is not always completely closed to outside weather, and/or the climate control system within the building may not be fully up and running.  This can produce temperatures and humidity levels during installation which are outside the acceptable limits prescribed in Section 2 of the 2014 Architectural Woodwork Standards (AWS).  Then, once the building is finally closed to the outdoors, and the HVAC is functional, the change in temperature and humidity can be significant, causing pronounced contraction or expansion of woodwork components.  If severe enough, this movement may cause joint or material failure.  If the woodwork subcontractor does not raise a red flag to project stakeholders at the first indication of such climate control issues, any failure of the millwork could later be attributed to shoddy workmanship rather than the radical swing in the building’s relative humidity.  Where possible, a woodworker’s use of instrumentation from “day one” to provide hard data on humidity swings over time is of course always desirable.

One category of woodwork that is susceptible to jobsite “climate change” is wood or HPDL wall paneling.  The large quantity of adjacent sheet goods required to cover some of the more sizeable commercial interior walls represents the potential for hefty dimensional changes in a panel run, should the humidity change.  Accordingly, decorative panels commonly feature architectural details such as rabbeted back edges “floating” over stationary reveals to allow for unrestricted movement of large panel elevations during humidity fluctuations.

However, among the projects inspected by QCP, we occasionally see wall panel elevations for which an architect has specified “edge-to-edge” installation (perhaps even abutting structural walls), with no apparent means for the panels to move.  The AWS addresses such situations, making it the responsibility of the installer to provide “expansion joints” to accommodate movement of the panels (AWS page 228,  8.6.1.13 etc.).  The Standard includes mathematical formulas which allow the installer to determine the minimum total width of relief space which must be distributed over any combination of expansion joints.  This calculation is based on the overall length of the panel run (whether horizontal or vertical):

 
There are some aspects of this AWS requirement worth noting.  First, the “expansion joint” may be somewhat mis-named, since it allows movement caused by either swelling or shrinkage of the panels.  Secondly, creating expansion joints on finished material would usually be a difficult proposition under typical field conditions.  Among the challenges faced by installers executing an expansion joint would be the resulting raw substrate edges, which are required to be finished in some manner.  Additionally, many architects might consider the addition of these expansion joints to be an unacceptable change to the aesthetic intent of the panel run. Obviously, it would be preferable for the woodwork subcontractor to point out the expansion joint requirement to the architect in the shop drawings, and request that he/she approve proposed locations and sizes of the expansion joints.  Settling this design question before manufacturing begins would allow for machining and finishing of expansion joints or other “movement” solutions at the woodworker’s facility during fabrication of the panel run.  This would provide maximum control over the process while effectively removing expansion joint responsibility from the installer.

AWI QCP, through its Corporate Partnership with the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), is afforded two one-hour learning opportunities utilizing CSI’s online webinars.

This past June 27, Margaret Fisher, AWI Communications Strategist and Outreach Specialist, delivered a presentation to CSI members explaining the QCP program and its benefits. Clarification was provided about the program cost and who pays for it. The webinar received high marks by the 104 participants.

QCP’s second opportunity to educate CSI members about architectural woodwork and detailing occurred again online at participants desks on September 12.  Margaret Fisher presented one of AWI’s most popular programs, “Designing with Hardwood Veneer” for 71 login attendees.  One of the original AWI Design Pro Series programs, its content and graphics have been updated through the years to reflect changes in the construction industry and material and methods, as well as resonate with the current edition of Architectural Woodwork Standards, Edition 2 (2014).

The current program features many new photos illustrating details that clarify requirements, illustrate specification terminology and even point out what you will get if you make or fail to make certain choices in constructions specifications. “There’s nothing like a breathtaking photo of how not to do it, to help you understand why correct specifications are important when specifying fine hardwood veneer for a project,” says Margaret who has presented the program hundreds of times. Of course, it’s just as inspiring to see beautiful photos of successful projects that are a triumph of well thought out design, smart specifications and professional planning and execution by a highly qualified AWI member firm.

The program objectives are:
• Learn how to use the Architectural Woodwork Standards to plan & evaluate a veneered project.
• Understand the five main steps in planning paneling.
• Gain specific knowledge about woodwork stability.
• Understand four main aspects of wood composition that affect veneer aesthetics.

The program also was recently delivered at two CSI Regional Conferences; CSI South Central Region in Frisco, TX and CSI North Central Region in Duluth, MN. Attendees of those programs are encouraged to alert others in their regions that they have another chance to participate in the program and earn one AIA Learning Unit and one HSW Continuing Education Credit.

AWI QCP hopes this program will be the doorway design professionals and specifiers will walk through to initiate projects that feature real wood veneer in all its sensuous beauty and also use the information to help them judge the quality of current projects.

Margaret S. Fisher was appointed to a dual full-time position on the AWI staff as Communications Strategist and Outreach Specialist in April 2017.  With more than three decades of industry experience, Margaret has worked in several aspects of the wood industry from manufacturing, distribution, supply and education.  Prior to her appointment to the AWI staff, Margaret served on the AWI Board of Directors, AWI Education Planning Committee, AWI Sustainable Resources Committee and the AWI Speakers Bureau. [email protected] awinet.org

QCP exhibited alongside the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) at the International Woodworking Fair – IWFAtlanta trade show, www.iwfatlanta.com in Georgia, August 22–25.  This year the booth was in a connector hall between B and C generating very high traffic. QCC staff Randy Estabrook, Greg Parham and Tricia Roberts shared time behind the booth catching up with many of our current licensees as well as meeting prospective applicants. 

As one of the overall top woodworking trade shows in the world, IWF was an extremely successful show for QCP and we look forward to seeing you in 2020.

Pictured above, left to right, Randy Estabrook, QCPs Executive Director, Mike McNulty, QCPs Chair with Millwork One and Tricia Roberts, QCP’s Sr. Director of Operations. (Greg Parham not shown.)

QCP has completed editing and reformatting several previous webinars offered on the AWI Webinar series. The most recent is the QCP Drafting Accreditation webinars. These two-part webinars in the series have been edited down from the over one-hour time frame of the previous presentations.  Look for these to appear on the QCP YouTube channel.

• QCP Individual Drafting Accreditation Course 1 Final

• QCP Individual Drafting Accreditation Part 2 Reduced

• QCP Inspection Process

To access the webinars, go to QCP on YouTube here.