Roof Loads

[mr brown]

Hi John and friends.

this is my first post. i've been reading the forum for a while now. i just love it. thanks for providing such an interesting and informative site.

i recently purchased the 20' wide 1 1/2 story plans. i read your booklet, the one that says "read me first". what i loved was the "What would I have to do to this house to avoid having to send it to an engineer?" question. maybe you can help me with my first big question.

your plans say they support 30 psi roof live load. i am located at 6100 ft and the building dept here requires a roof that will support 50 psi load for buildings over 6000 ft.

i was thinking of using the site built trusses... do you think i can just use bigger 2x lumber to beef up the roof?

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks. LM

[John Raabe]

The truss as shown (w 2x6's) has been built in many heavy snow areas without any sagging or structural issues.

This design could be beefed up with 2x8 rafters in the configuration shown for 2x6. I know if you had a manufactured truss built for a 50 lbs load it would use smaller material than that.

However, your building department may require that even that site built truss be checked by an local engineer.