Acceptable TJI Squash Blocking

BirmanBuilders

Used to use TJI's a few years ago for a guy i was working for. They were used on ranches with complete wrap around porches and decks. Great system but the particle board rimmer they give is no good for attaching decks to. Using the 2X squash blocks helped but when trying to bolt on an external rim joist for the outside deck didn't always work. I suggested using LVL's for the rim joists, that way we didn't need squash blocks and the treated lumber was really well bolted on from the outside. The crew i worked for were all about speed so it was a great time saver, but I'm not sure on the engineering aspect of it, when your wall is only really sitting on 1"3/4, but it seemed to work pretty good. Iv'e also seen guys use no squash blocks, and "gotten away with it". I think you should definitely use 2X squash blocks because any decent size weight coming down on a TJI will just buckle it. End of the day it's only OSB.