Hello everybody! So I have a rookie question to ask that's causing me a great deal of confusion. I was taught to do layout for walls and roofs by hooking tape at end of plate, pull 16s (or whatever OC called for) and deduct 3/4. So 15 1/4 x to the right, 31 1/4 x to the right, etc, etc. I'm currently working with two guys who do it differently when we do roof trusses. They hook their tape at the end of plate and mark 24 and x to the right of the 24 mark and so on, rather than deducting width of truss. I don't do layout because of my skill level, but I'd like to know why they do it differently then the way I learned. Btw, I'm just going of what I read in the dewalt carpentry and framing book. That's where I read about layout. Could somebody clear this up for me? Are roofs layed out differently? Are trusses layed out differently? Thanks in advance.
Proper layout when framing?
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I would say it is more then likely done that way because of the overhang. It would be like doing your 3/4 setback then starting from that mark for the rest of the layout.
Disclaimer :laughing: I am not a framer , but have done my share of building. and things come out right. :thumbup:
Disclaimer :laughing: I am not a framer , but have done my share of building. and things come out right. :thumbup:
Not sure if I understand what the roof guys are doing exactly, I am doing about three things right now, 
but....
I always measure out 15 1/4", set an 8d, and pull my layout from there. Much easier, in my opinion. :thumbsup:
but....I always measure out 15 1/4", set an 8d, and pull my layout from there. Much easier, in my opinion. :thumbsup:
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From what I can tell they don't seemed to be worried about the first truss lining up with the sheathing. Is it a cottage roof or gable roof? Maybe their thinking is they need to cut every end sheet anyway so spending the time to lay out with the set back isn't worth it.
I generally like to lay out my floors and roofs the same as my wall. Just looks a lot cleaner if everything lines up with studs...
But it never hurts to ask to see where they are coming from.
I generally like to lay out my floors and roofs the same as my wall. Just looks a lot cleaner if everything lines up with studs...
But it never hurts to ask to see where they are coming from.
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The 3½" truss width is what I'm trying to wrap my brain around, you said roof trusses right?
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Yeah I definately missed that part. Disregard what I said above.Brian Peters said:
I still say it is because of the over hang. If you hook a tape on the outside of sub fascia and start you layout it gives you the proper spacing. Pretty much the same thing as Seven Delta Forty One is saying. All they are doing is starting from second one in.
or 23 1/4 if two foot spacing.
Man, you guys must not do a lot of truss framing. By hooking the wall plate and going 24 "set ahead", the gable truss ends up on exactly a 24" o.c. layout. The truss manufacturers will actually spec out the layout on anything other than a simple gable roof. About 99% of the gables have some kind of overhang, so no matter what you start with, you wont end up with a full sheet at the end. If you adjust the layout enough to make a sheet work, you will end up a truss short.
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Always did 2' and go. Probably habit from the west coast where the jack trusses for a hip set were made this way. You would get bottom chords on the jacks at 8' long, so the hip master would be set 8' back to the face of the truss.
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pulling 15 1/4" to start allows for both sheathing and drywall to split the framing timbers rather... diff strokes for diff folks but thats how i've always done it
Funny how things always differ, here its almost always a 7' jack although having a 1' on the corner means in cmu it has to be laid out at 13-1/2" set back for the strap. What did you guys do on a 2' overhang from the 2' corner jack to the corner?
Same idea though pulling on hips it was always 1,3,5,7 etc. On trusses I've never pulled anything but even's or odd's except in change over.
To the OP most simply put, it has everything to do with birdsmouths setting trusses.
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We called it a zero. It was a dummy tail.
The ones they have here in Maine also set back 7' and have a hip girder system attaching to the H1. The west coast style has a hip master with a regular 2x6 or double 2x4 hip. The side of the hip has the 8' bottom chord jacks, the 3 remainding jacks (2', 4', and 6' layout) have a 2' bottom chord terminating into the bottom chord of the first jack.
It's difficult to explain. I have a thread here somewhere where I showed IMO the perfect hip truss system. I'll see if I can find it.
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Brilliant to actually make a use out of the flats other than watch a kid slip on an overhanging piece of plywood. How far could the jack top chords go?
Good for not wasting plywood or the pain in vertical weakness.
Did you ever get to do one?
Good for not wasting plywood or the pain in vertical weakness.
Did you ever get to do one?
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The truss company I was working with, we got close, but not quite. The top chords theoretically can be infinite. Tough to handle, but there were some jacks I received that the top chords were easily over 20'.
I say follow the layout sheet on a truss roof & if it's a cut in nowadays they usually have your layout corner marked on the 1st fl plan & if not my rule of thumb was layout corner was that opposite of the garage and depending on 12's, 19-2's or 16's depends on layout. Best advice always build to plan, that's what it's for.
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