Building with trusses

[new land owner]

Has anyone built a 1 story building with pre made trusses?
I am looking at building in the Adirondacks and I think the best Idea is to go with the full foundation.  I am concerned with the cold weather and the mechanicals would be much easier to run using the full foundation.  I will also gain the basement space so I would not need the 2nd story.  Also I would be building much of this by myself and would not have to figure out the rafters or how to get a legal set of stairs in the tight space of a 20 x 32 cabin. How hard is it to install trusses?

[walkabout]

I have purchased the 1 story plans and building a 20x30 house over a 7' "crawl" space, as the township (Wright Country, MN) my existing cabin is in does not allow full basements (greater that 7' floor to ceiling joist) on undersized lots.

Whether you have a 1 1/2 story or a 1 story with a basement you will need to have stairs? I am interested in where you will be placing the stairs.

Sorry I can't help with your truss question as I am not that far into my project yet.

[MountainDon]

Trusses are easy in that they are prebuilt. Get them in position, secure them and you're ready to sheath. I like that. 

However their size usually means you can not do the work yourself. I did a 20' wide garage once myself using Rube Goldberg mechanical aids to lift and move them. I wouldn't do that again. You need some helpers, or even better crane with good operator.

[harry51]

One of the advantages of using trusses is that it is faster and simpler to frame the roof with them than by stick cutting all the rafters, ceiling joists, etc. Because they include two rafters (rafter chords), the ceiling joist (joist chord), and several other vertical and/or diagonal elements, they can be fairly heavy.

Three of us installed trusses with all parts made of 2x4 df and a 3/12 pitch by hand on top of 9' walls years ago. It was a garage building with no inside walls, only the perimeter walls.

We put them up from inside the walls, one end at a time, using one man on a ladder and two helping from the ground, with the truss upside down, always as close to its final location as possible.

Beginning with the truss at one end of the building, when both ends were up on the walls, we rotated the peak of the truss up, then ladder man nailed it to temporary vertical 2x4's nailed to the end wall.

When we tilted the second one up, we put 1x4's across them, two boards on each side, one near the peak, one about 3' up from the wall, to hold it up. Ladder man balanced it upright, and the ground men climbed another ladder to nail the 1x's.

As we progressed, we came to a point where the peak of the truss would barely clear the other end wall when it was rotated. At that point, we had to put all the remaining trusses up, standing them in a group against the ones already braced in place. This amounted to the last 3, IIRC.  We nailed temporary vertical braces to the second end wall, and manhandled the end truss against them, then worked the others into place.

Once we had them all on the marks and the rafter tails lined up, we toenailed them to the top plate, and installed the purlins and freeze blocks.

Here's a link to a CountryPlans page showing pics of BishopKnight setting trusses in what looks to be a similar way:

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5386.msg74577#msg74577

(Scroll up to the pics from where the link takes you)

Now, the truck that delivers them sometimes has a boom and will set them across the walls in piles. Then you move them into position and set them much as we did. They may even set each truss if you talk to the driver right....

[MountainDon]

Around here the trusses usually come on a roll off and are left on the ground. If the delivery vehicle included a crane that greatly simplifies the matter.  Check that out.

[okie-guy]

One thing to consider is the type of truss you want. The cheaper trusses have a post right in the middle  and cross members that rule out using the attic area. I went to my college engineering book and ordered  Fink trusses for my garage. It takes a larger runner but has an opening in middle that we store stuff in. I'm sure there are alot of different kinds of trusses ;but plan ahead.

[new land owner]

I have attached A floor plan of what I am looking to build. I have also attached a picture of the outside.





It will have a full basement with the stairs to the basement just to the left of the front door.

[PEG688]

That would be a simple roof for trusses. The real beauty of a truss roof is the ability to span wide areas with no beams or interior support / bearing walls.




Your "backed framed " valleys would  / could / should look very similar to this one.



 


 


 


   


G/L PEG
   

[new land owner]

Thanks for the pictures.  The roof pictures are just what I am thinking.  Any Idea what the compond cuts are for the rafters going up the roof on the porch roof?

[PEG688]

It depends on the roof pitch. If it's a 4 in 12 71 degrees , set the saw angle at 18 deg..

The truss company can also provide those pieces with the compound angles cut already. All you'd need to make on site would be the cut for length at the ridge. Just make sure you ask them for a "valley" package we generally don't ask for that, but some times they send it out anyway. It's kind of nice when they do, but no big deal if they don't, at least for me.


Make sure they DON"T send trusses that sit on the roof , on a big roof with a company out of Canada I've assemble a couple of "kit houses " for they send a triangular truss , sets of them. They are a PITA to set , the stick framed valleys are easier IMO.


G/L PEG       

[cordwood]

If you load the trusses on the roof yourself (with help) remember to load them ALL before you you start putting them in place. If you don't the last ones are very difficult to work with.
And don't nail your foot to the top plate from the other side of the truss!!!! I rolled hundreds of trusses when I was younger and have seen that happen a lot .
Also keep an eye on your ridge to see that all the trusses are the same, They are built in a jig and if they get turned end for end on the ground your ridge could get out of line. The roof will look fine if it is not symmetrical side to side by an inch unless you turn one around and that inch becomes two inches out of line

[Jens]

Most of the roofs that I have done were trussed, with multiple California overframes like that.  Did do on with the overframe trusses that you nail to the roof.  Gotta make sure the layout is correct, and triple check with stringlines, chalklines, and a long board with a level.  For many of the carpenters I've worked with it works better, but seemed slower to me than good old stickframe.  And PEG is right, no interior bearing walls is a huge plus, because it also means you can build your interiors after dry in!  Not to mention the savings on beams if you want an open plan.

[new land owner]

       Thanks for all the responses.  I think this is would be an easy way to build once I figure the angles of the "back framed" valley.  My roof pitch will be 8/12.
 
        My land is 4 1/2 hours from my home so I plan on making alot of cuts at home and assembling when I get to my sight.


       

[n74tg]

New Land Owner:
There's an old saying in construction -- "measure twice, cut once".  If you make a lot of your cuts at home (like you said in previous post) you're going to come across instances where you cut that board just a little too short. 

Do yourself a favor.  Measure each board at the site, then cut it.  You will waste a lot less material. 

I just got through putting up my trusses, it's discussed in blog address below. 

[new land owner]

My plan is to say on the 32 foot wall make three sections 2 @ 10' and one @ 12'. I would create window opening and door opening, number everything and nail the sections together when i get to my land.  I was watching a show on habitat for Humanity once and they where showing where they had built sectons for windows and doors before going to the sight and assembling the rest of the wall on sight.