Truss Construction

[Dustin Bartlett]

I'm planning on building a garage this summer. It's going to be 26'x30' with 10' ceilings. Haven't finished pricing stuff out, but I'm leaning towards having nothing prebuilt in an effort to keep costs down. Bought a place I take possession of in late June and this is one of the many reno's planned for it.

I have a question about the gussets for the truss construction. I'm wondering if 1.5" medium guage narrow crown staples can be substituted for the 3D box nails normally used?

That is unless any of you know of a framing nailer that will also shoot nails appropriate for gussets.

If need be though I guess I'll fall back to the good old manual hammer.

Thanks,
Dustin

[Dave Richards]

What are your gussets going to be made of? The last time I built trusses, I used 1/4" plywood for the gussets and glued and nail them. They are rock solid but I don't know if glued plywood gussets would be allowed by code in your area.

[Dustin Bartlett]

Was planning on 3/8" ply and gluing them. Although I haven't checked with the building inspector yet for what the code says. Will be doing that soon.

Haven't searched a lot yet, but I was hoping someone here would know if the shear strength of a medium wire staple is high enough for the task if the glue ever did let go, and could save me the search time . Or if a medium wire staple would be if you use a few more staples than you would have nails.

[Chuck Saunders]

I used 1/2" OSB for the gussets and fastened with construction adhesive and screws. The staples should work if you have a nailing pattern and follow it. Have the pattern approved by the building inspector beforehand. When dealing with inspectors it is much easier to get permission in advance than forgiveness later.
Chuck

[Rob Russell]

Dustin,

Are you planning on this being any sort of load-carrying ceiling, either via a storage platform above or hanging stuff from the ceiling (other than garage doors/openers)?

If yes, I'd see an engineer or use prebuilt trusses. I also wouldn't trust the glue. The floor trusses in our addition use stamped plates with no glue - here's a pic.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=25220&d=1130490815

If no, why can't you just do dimensional lumber with a truss-framed roof?

Rob

If yes,

[Peter Mc Mahon]

It's all up to your building inspector or structural engineer. Submit a drawing of what you want to do and see if it is approved. Peter

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Like Rob, I would look into a framed roof with rafters and a ridge board. We have found it is much easier to get consistent results this way. Also, the strength is much higher.

[Dustin Bartlett]

I was planning on using dimensional lumber for the trusses. 3/8" ply is just for the gussets.

http://www.tpub.com/content/construction/14044/css/14044_92.htm

This is what I intend the trusses to look like. Even the right span with this example.

Roof won't have to support anything but snow in the winter, garage door/opener, possibly some dust collection venting and hanging a few things like bikes for storage. So nothing big.

[Mark Rios]

To support ANY load, including snow, the trusses should be engineered, as has been mentioned. Not really a place to try to scrimp, imho. Trying to get away with the least amount of material and/or money will eventually lead to something making you pay down the road.

[Dustin Bartlett]

I'm not trying to scrimp any on materials, I'm trying to save some money by considering my labor as near free. Bottom cords and web will be 2x4, top chord will be 2x6, gussets will be 3/8" ply.

I have no concerns with the 3/8" ply being strong enough. I'm just trying to determine if 3D or 4D box nails are the only suitable connectors for the gussets or if medium wire narrow crown staples are strong enough to be a substituted so I can make use of a tool I already have to speed up the build process.

What I intend to build will be identical to what the local lumber yards would sell me prefabed in a garage kit except for plywood gussets instead of pressed steel ones.

[Rob Russell]

Seems to me that you're making this more complicated than it needs to be. A simple "truss-framed" roof with ridge board is all you need. I'd use a 2x6 for the ceilng joists - that's what's over our garage and the span is 20'. Some of the bracing elements over our garage are nothing but scrap 1x4's. That frankly doesn't seem that strong, but the load those pieces are taking are either being stretched or compress longitudinally, so stiffness is less of a concern there.

[Howard Rosenberg]

<sorry>
<couldn't resist>
Howard

[Howard Rosenberg]

sorry
couldn't resist
Howard

[Stefan Schoenberger]

Hi Dustin

Instead of trusses you could also use the TJI-Beams. They are really light compared to the load bearing capacity.

www.trusjoist.com (http://www.trusjoist.com)

Stefan

[Chris Damm]

Around here all trusses have to have an engineer's stamp on them. Home or site built won't fly!

[Steve Ash]

Around here all trusses have to have an engineer's stamp on them. Home or site built won't fly!

You are right on that one Chris, I used to make trusses for the houses and garages I built years ago, but no more. Got to come from a factory with the engineers seal of approval along with what size hurricane clips needed and where the lateral bracing must be located.......no stamp and specs, no way!

[Joe Chritz]

It would be worth a call to a lumber yard before you get to far. If attic storage is not an issue you can purchase "stock" truss fairly reasonable.

If your time is worth anything at all a 28 foot truss (26 with 1 foot overhangs) would most likely be cheaper then building. I have never built a truss for anything other than a shed but it looks like a big project.

Good luck

Joe

[Bill Lewis]

Ditto on the engineering stamp of approval for trusses in our area. But to answer your question, I don't think what you are proposing is going to be nearly as strong as the metal pressed-in truss plates. Also, I can almost bet you that no county inspector or engineer will approve the use of crown staples as a suitable mechanical fastener, and the same goes for glues and adhesives. If you were to get a home built truss approved by an engineer, it would probably require the used of 8d nails as a minimum with quite sizeable plywood/osb gussets. This alone will drive up the cost considerably, plus the time to build them, and when done they'll be quite heavy.

Anyway, like Joe just stated, stock trusses are pretty reasonably priced, but you might also want to look at stick building as well. Often stick building is actually cheaper for the materials, but the labor to do it is much higher. Since you labor is essentially "free", this would be time better spent over bulding trusses.

[Ray Bersch]

Dustin,

I was curious about the link you supplied, or rather, what the page was trying to tell us, so I moved back and forth a bit on that site and here is a quote from the site

"<NOBR>A roof truss is an engineered structural frame resting</NOBR><NOBR> on two outside walls of a building."</NOBR>
<NOBR></NOBR>
<NOBR></NOBR>
<NOBR>I don't know of a code that would allow site built trusses - "engineered structural frame" are the key</NOBR>
<NOBR>words here and it is not only the size of the lumber but the connections</NOBR>
<NOBR>and bracing that come into play. So, as others suggest, go directly to your building inspector </NOBR><NOBR>and ask your question - watch for a raised eyebrow - but if he allows it, </NOBR>
<NOBR>then go to it. But if your main goal is to save time, then I don't know why you want </NOBR>
<NOBR>to build a truss on site - might just as well use conventional framing. It might </NOBR>
<NOBR>even save you money because you may need to rent a fork lift to get the trusses up on the walls.</NOBR>
<NOBR></NOBR>
<NOBR>Ray</NOBR>

[Dustin Bartlett]

Finally got off my ass and contacted the building inspectors office. Same up in Saskatchewan as down south it seems. Engineered prefabbed trusses are required to meet code. Guess I have the answer to my question.

Building the trusses was going to be fun :(


Dustin

[Robert Roy]

Well you can still make them....just can't use them!:D Sorry I couldn't resist.

I built my shop last year using 2"x6" rafters instead of trusses, this also gives you more room for storage, since there is no truss webbing in the way.

Good Luck!

-Rob

[Kelly C. Hanna]

NO....you will need to use at least 10d framing nails....staples will not hold in a pinch and are not up to code. You can use the 2" nails that fit mail guns without a problem. Building trusses is much better than buying them.

That said...using 2x6 rafters and a ridgeboard is just as good if not better. Purlins make the structure stronger than dirt and can actually save you time and $$$.

[Peter Mc Mahon]

You can still frame your roof, you just can't make your own truss. My shop is 2x8 top chord with 2x6 collar ties and king post. The ridge board is 2x8. Big difference between building a truss and stick framming a roof. Peter