The American Wood Council’s (AWC) wildly popular online span calculator was recently updated to allow user input of Machine Stress Rated (MSR) and Machine Evaluated Lumber (MEL). With manufacturers taking a renewed interest in machine grading technology and attempting to derive greater value from the premium products they manufacture, having MSR and MEL in the span calculator permits them to point users to this tool for their lumber joist sizing needs. Grades and species shown represent those most commonly manufactured and available today.

Incorporation of MSR and MEL will add even more flexibility to the most popular tool on the AWC website. With an average of 50,300 monthly total page views, the span calculator generates over 1/3 of the traffic to the AWC website.

The span calculator is a free tool available on the AWC website at www.awc.org. For more information, contact Buddy Showalter at buddy_showalter@afandpa.org.