Trusses?

loneframer

Yeah, well, I bleached my hair due to a lost bet. I am no longer a betting man. These were before the wager.

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loneframer

Not that I'm a truss man, but even I was impressed with these. This building was under construction in 1906. The trusses still have a slight crown up on the bottom chord, spanning nearly 40'. I wasn't impressed however, with the 2x4 perlins spanning almost 12'. We sistered the perlins with 2x10s before stripping the old roof and resheathing with the Zip system.

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loneframer

Here's a few more

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TimelessQuality

Doesn't anything come apart when you use a 5' lever arm on a shovel?

I prefer the sticks too, but (imo) you are wrong when you say trusses are inferior...

They are apples, and stick built is oranges.. each has it's place.

I just did a garage with a 33' span, 3 pitches, attic space and loading...Try that with a pile of dimensional...

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-Steve

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." ~ Albert Einstein

joasis

I have never seen a plate separate from the truss unless it was dropped or crushed....nothing to do with a failed connection.

Of course, I was 29 once, and thought I knew it all......

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loneframer

Yeah well, I've been 29 for the last 15 years.

strathd

I have noticed different parts of the country prefer one over the other. Obviously from the post's above NY/NJ prefer rafters over trusses. The deep south also prefer's rafters over trusses as I framed in Mississipi after katrina.

Here in NW Ohio it's trusses over rafters if the plan allows. But of course I would much rather cut in a roof. Most big house's here are rafters. Small houses are trusses. You want to get a real hatred for trusses ? Try framing a 3500 sq. ft. cut up bastard hip roof with trusses. They are a pain in the ass. By the time your done you'll think you could have cut it in quicker. You will think that but they still are quicker.

As far as cost goes, rafters = more per sq. ft. labor trusses = less per sq. ft. labor.

Before the bust twenty percent of my work was panelized. From a good panel company and assembled properly they are as good if not better than an onsite framed house. Remember there are alot of different panel companys out there. I would own one from the company I worked with (Wassau Homes). The only way you could tell they were panelized was by the non staggered seams on the floor. These walls came fully assembled (shear panel, housewrap, windows).

Now the panel companys that just dump a bunch of short walls on the lot and split are garbage. Did one of those once. Never again.

TimelessQuality

I went from 29 to twenty-ten, twenty-eleven, twenty-twelve...

I guess I'm twenty-twenty-three now

Always more to learn though...

__________________
-Steve

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." ~ Albert Einstein

loneframer

I spent the better part of 20 years framing on the barrier islands. Every municipality has a specific height restriction, which is strictly enforced.
The first truss roof I saw on Ocean City had to be modified because it ended up 8" above legal height. I have heard of people getting called on 3-4 inches over. Many of the plans we worked off of lost inches due to joist heights, subfloor thicknesses, rounding wall heights to 8' rather than 97 1/8", heel cut height,...... By the time you're at the roof, you could easily lose several inches of allowable roof height. In some cases, we cut 4" off each floor to get enough pitch to shingle the roof. It was great practical experience and I earned a great deal of knowledge trying to maximize every inch.

NNY

I prefer stick framing . It's how I learned and did a lot of it . Trusses have there place though and can be a time saver . No crane is nice too and I don't particularly like setting them on windy day . To keep it short and sweet , my house is stick framed .

strathd

Three to four inches over ! That would suck out loud !!!!!!!! No restrictions on anything here. Except property setbacks. Has it's pros and cons.

loneframer

Youd be surprised at how many homes have a 2' flat at the ridgeline in Ocean City. I know of a few homes that encroached on the 4' setback that had to be cut back several inches after the as-built survey was done. We had very tight tolerances to work with.
I also did some reframing for a builder who completed a house that was too close to the bulkhead and a neighbor filed a complaint. He had to lose 12' off of a brand new home. I don't know who dropped the nut on that one. The plans were sealed by the archy and approved by city hall. I suppose there was alot of passing the buck going on.

knucklehead

I think it all depends on what you are framing.

Simple roofs ,trusses are good. I have framed alot of office buildings for a guy as wide as 56' clearspan with the trusses you have total open space to divide up for differnt tenants.
Around here most houses are stick framed.

cbfx3

I saw that happen around here one time.. nice new home one day.. then next week there was a crew of guys out there cutting 1' off the face of the garage

As for trusses they certainly have their place. Most of the commercial buildings we do there would be no other way to do it. Lots of long spans with really low slopes

knucklehead

Those pictures raise alot of questions. Are you gonna put hangers on those joists? Do you always square a window? Do you need a scoffold set up to set that window?

loneframer

Yes, all joists will get hangers, with the exception of the ceiling joists. They are not required on CJs here. I prefer to set them with 12D gun nails and have a laborer go back and install all hardware, after the porch floor was poured in this case.
Yes, I always level the sill, square the corners, then straight edge the side jambs. Andersen 400 series have corner clips on the top of the unit that make the head about 1/8" wider than the sill.
Yes, that window was about 9' above grade and the lift was already geared with the platform for the higher windows. It's convenient to have everything at arms length, including the window unit.

mccarty.74

That's ridiculous. I understand the opposition to throwing a 3 story mega-structure in amongst the normal homes but 3 or 4" ... come on now. Does it give a total structure height on your elevation print? Sounds like you are responsible for the calculation to meet those requirements. But as long as you are paid for that time investment I guess it's irrelevant.

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What would you say...ya do here?

loneframer

The allowable height varies from one end of the island to the other, but the plan gives a height to top of ridge from the center of the lot and the crest of the street crown. In most cases 31'. This number is affected by Elevation 10' which is related to average tide measurements. I never trust the numbers on the plan for the reasons stated in my previous post. It takes ten minutes to set up a builders level and hit a few measurements, cheap insurance in my opinion.

UpNorth

Engineered trusses are the right solution for roof structures when the design calls for no interior bearing points or walls.

They can also be used to do roof structures with curves and a little complexity, as shown here. This job is in deep snow country out in the plains area of British Columbia.

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UpNorth

Here is the shape of it all when almost done.

The beauty of the truss scheme here is that all the ceiling framing in the rooms below is part of the truss scheme. That "eyebrow / barrel" shape in the second floor loft area would be a challenge to frame by hand, and not have any post supports anywhere.

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