Unlock your post-frame potential with this free educational series

By Emma Peterson. 

Check out this comprehensive collection of webinars to gain more skills and resources for the post-frame industry. 

The National Frame Building Association (NFBA) is a non-profit trade organization that represents the members of the post-frame construction industry. This includes builders, suppliers, manufacturers, designers, engineers and more. The primary focus of the association is to provide business resources, expert technical knowledge, networking opportunities, current industry news, and educational programs. 

One of their most accessible forms of technical education is the NFBA Online University educational webinar series. These webinars are held bimonthly throughout the year and are free to the public. The webinars are conducted by two NFBA Member Educational Professionals, Dr. Daniel (Dan) P. Hindman and Dr. Joseph (Joe) Zulovich. Dr. Hindman is an associate professor of wood engineering at Pennsylvania State College. His research program focuses on the use of sustainable, low-carbon, biological-based materials for construction. Dr. Zulovich holds a Ph.D. in agricultural engineering from the University of Nebraska and teaches as an assistant extension professor at the University of Missouri’s division of plant science and technology.  

The duo will be tackling a variety of topics over the course of this webinar series, check out the overview of it all below!  

Dr. Hindman recently presented a webinar on building a diaphragm design for a post-frame project using DAFI. This included building a 2-D design, understanding how to read a design and identifying different resources available.  

As for Dr. Zulovich, his first webinar focused on designing shallow post and pier foundations. Attendees learned how to determine when to use a simplified method to create designs. Alternatively, Dr. Hindman presented on using a universal method for creating shallow post and pier foundation design. This covered what scenarios are best suited to this method and how to determine measurements using the method.  

Continuing the focus on shallow post and pier foundations, Dr. Zulovich taught a session on the Design Aid available for working on a project. Attendees of this course got to use Design Aid themselves and learn which foundation design applications were best to use with the tool.  

To help those entering the industry, one of Dr. Hindman’s courses was an introduction to post-frame building systems. This lesson covered all the basics, from the application of post-frame building systems to how to identify one in the field.  

One of Dr. Zulovich’s webinars was focused on the NFBA Post-Frame Building Design Manual. He covered everything from what to expect from the manual to how to navigate and find the information you want within it. In a similar vein, Dr. Hindman covered the NFBA Non-Diaphragm Post-Frame Building Design Guide. His lesson also focused on the scope of the resource and helped attendees build key connections about non-diaphragm post-frame building systems.  

Dr. Zulovich’s April talk was about the engineering of non-diaphragm post-frame structural designs. He shared examples of this and helped lead structural analysis of these types of buildings.  

In May, Dr. Hindman expanded the lense beyond post-frame and took a look at the other architectural options out there. Through this process, attendees got a clear picture of the unique benefits and features of post-frame. Also, Dr. Zulovich gave an introduction to modern post-frame design practices. Attendees identified the structural components of a post-frame building system and learned how to design their own. 

Dr. Hindman kicked off the June talks with diaphragm design using sway and shear modifiers. This talk highlighted the engineering behind this method and showed participants how it can lower the load carried by post-frame side wall posts. 

Register for the upcoming webinars or watch the past ones on demand on the NFBA website!