Roof Trusses - Nail To Interior Walls???

bimmerdream

Just wanted to see what everyone thinks...
I personally like to nail roof trusses to anything they touch. Your opinions?

carpenter72

Yeah, we always nail them to interior walls to keep em strait and on layout for drywall ect.

smeagol

x2

BillD

I always used to nail them now I would use the truss uplift clips to secure them at interior partitions.

Bill

bimmerdream

well yeah, thats what the truss man would say, but has anyone ever had any problem with nailing them to every top plate the bear on??? I haven't.. I have however heard plenty of horror stories about drywal separating in the winter, etc...
Practical vs Theoretical...

festerized

Yup what bill said
I hate doing this way, inspector does want the truss nailed, and instead they want the use of a clip.
On one job, truss spec. sheet called out that interior walls must float ½” from truss and use goal post clips. We had to pack up all exterior walls with ½” plywood. Its not easy seting trusses when you can’t nail the bottom.
I would like to point out we don’t use a crane if trusses are under 400lbs or is under 20’ high
If it’s a 2 story house I just use the crane to get them up there. Lay them down I get that big hunk of swinging metal off my sight
I was taught old school using “pussy sticks”
3 guys on the ground using their pussy sticks and 3 guys in the air pulling

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curtis fulton

yep nail them to interior walls too

KennMacMoragh

We used to until they started requiring STC clips on every truss to partition connection. If you use those clips then you do not nail them, the trussed need to be able to move up and down. Those may be required only for a seismic zone 3 or 4, I'm not sure.

griz

Whatever the truss engineering specs say. 99.9% time the truss is attached with a clip at both ends & on top of interior walls. In snow country (200+ lb snow load) used crush blocks w/A35 on both sides. Never have seen bottom cord nailed to interior walls. Rat runs keep them on layout.

KentWhitten

Trusses are designed to float above interior walls. Except where there's an interior load bearing wall, you're to use the clips.

Have I before? Yes. Would I now? No.

The longer the truss in general, the more deflection is in the design.

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roughrider

Most general contractors around here will freak out if every wall is not nailed to a truss. have never even seen a clip around here (except on the ends).if you dont nail the walls to the trusses how do you keep your interior walls level, strapping?

steves

As a rule we do not nail to interior walls unless of course it is a bearing point.
But I have no problem toe nailing to the bottom chord to hold the wall or the cord straight.

Willie T

Framerman is correct. Never, ever, nail interior walls directly to trusses. Never!

It is a sure way to eventually have cracks develop at the lid-to-wall intersections. (Not using ceiling clips, especially)

Not to mention it is a flagrant violation of design criteria, and can often alter truss strength.

Even before clips (thirty years ago) we knew better.

Also, someone mentioned that they nailed where trusses were 'bearing' on interior walls. Unless this is a designed and designated bearing point, no interior walls should have trusses even touching the top plates at all.

The drawing below shows both a truss uplift clip & a couple of ceiling drywall clips. We all need to be using both.

Attached Images

 

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Framer53

Willie, that may be fine and good where you live, but is not done around here.

Framerman I have heard the horror stories, but have yetsimpson to make money. to see any around here. I think this may be overblown or another way for

SC sawdaddy

I have always nailed off every truss everywhere it crosses a wall. I've been doing it wrong all these years?

Never had a problem with it nor seen it done any other way.

Willie T

Actually, if you return to houses framed several years ago, you will often find cracks running not only along the wall-to-ceiling intersections, but also on the vertical wall corners.

This is due to the normal movement (movement, not settlement) all houses experience during climatic (temperature and humidity) changes.

Even here, we still have inspectors who have not kept up with the advancements in the industry, and continue to insist on nailing all the drywall tight in corners and intersections. This continues to create exactly the same problems we have had for decades. But they seem to only know rules, and not reason.

In recent years we are finally learning that many of the hard, fast rules about insulation do not work the same in all areas. Yet the inspectors insist of the same installation rules here in Florida as in Maine.

Anything may be tradition, accepted, and even legal or required. That doesn't necessarily make it correct nor the best way to build. Unless my hands are tied by the Building Dept. I will always strive to build the better way.

And we built "sliding" connections for wall/truss intersections long before Simpson even dreamed of Uplift Clips. (BTW, I agree that many Simpson requirements are no more than lobbying efforts on that company's part to increase profits.... but not in this case.)

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SC sawdaddy

Ceilings just float?
Looks like there would be a curve in the finished ceiling between truss and deadwood unless crown was installed.

Willie T

Yes, exactly. The edges of all interior ceilings should be left to float for 7" or more. (I think 12" is the limit for doubled lids) The clips keep them from sagging, and also hold them in their originally 'mudded' locations when the trusses 'uplift' every year so those edges won't crack.

Same idea for vertical 'mudded' wall corners. They even make clips for these corners, though I don't think they are really necessary.

Notice in the photo below that this wall was probably built about 1/4" to 1/2" shy of touching the trusses. (considering the DW thickness)

Attached Images

 

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thom

Block between trusses with 2X6's which overhang each side of the interior wall. The edge of the drywall is nailed/screwed to the blocks, not the truss. Because the blocks are attached to the wall this will keep the joint from cracking. The next set of nails/screws must be about 8" out and attached to the truss. This 8" piece of sheetrock, with one end attached to the wall/block and the other end attached to the truss will flex to allow the truss to move up and down.

The 2X6 blocks should fill the space between trusses, generally 22-1/2". The trusses should slide up and down in the space created but should have no lateral movement. Do not nail the truss to the block.

Willie T

That's one of the methods we used before the clips came along. But the clips cost so much less, and are easier and faster to install when the cost and time of cutting up blocks is figured in.

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"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Bill Everett - St. Petersburg, FL