Market Education

Industry Standard Responsibilities

Question: 

What is the industry standard for ordering residential roof truss systems: Should the general contractor/builder field measure before ordering trusses or should he rely on the blueprint? Who is responsible for their accuracy – the plan service, the truss manufacturer, the builder/general contractor or the framing contractor?

Fall Protection

Question: 

Are wood trusses designed to be fall protection anchors that would support a worker should he fall?

Determining Truss Manufacturer From Stamps On Lumber

Question: 

I'm trying to find out who the truss manufacturer was that built the trusses in my home. I was told that there is usually a stamp on the side of the bottom chord. All I found was “2400F 2.0E.” What am I looking for? The other chords only have material stamps. Can you tell me what kind of information I should be looking for to find out who the manufacturer was?

Shimming Or Shaving Variances In Truss Dimensions

Question: 

If you have the condition where you are out by the max tolerances of 1/2 in., how do you correct the situation? Do you shim the truss from the bottom? Shim from the top? I will assume you do not shave the truss off. What is the published corrective action for situations that cannot handle the variation in truss height?

Transforming Attic Into Living Space

Question: 

We are looking into developing the attic space above our garage into a media room. The garage is attached to the home and we would enter this area from the living room. We recently read if you have a truss system that in order to develop the attic, one would have to replace the entire roof with conventional construction. My question is: can we safely develop this trussed area above our garage?

Trusses In Corrosive Environments

Question: 

I am a building designer on a salt storage building project. I would like to use metal plate connected wood trusses in the design. What should I specify for the metal connector plates?

Warning Poster Caution Notes

Question: 

We are concerned with SBCA’s BCSI-B1 Summary Sheet which under “Notes” makes a disclaimer. Our concern is if there would be an accident with our trusses and we point out that the bracing was not placed correctly according to SBCA documentation, which is sent with every job. If the accident goes to court, how will our attorney respond when the opposing attorney points out the disclaimer, which infers that the bracing we recommend must be flawed, otherwise it would not be disclaimed?

Drywall Cracking Under Scissors Trusses

Question: 

We keep having problems with dry wall joints raising on the vaulted bottom chords in the track homes that we are building. The joints run from front to back of the house and the trusses bear on the side walls. The trusses are mostly 2-point bearing (a few in the front and back of the building are tri-bearing). The trusses span 40 ft. and have a 4/12 pitch with a tile roof. Is it common to have dry wall problems as the trusses deflect? How long should the roof be loaded before hanging sheetrock? Should the heel of the truss be allowed to slide out on the top plate?

Structural Composite Lumber In Trusses

Question: 

The lumber used in most metal plate connected wood trusses is either visually- or mechanically-graded solid sawn dimensional lumber. However, the Truss Plate Institute's ANSI/TPI 1 allows the use of structural composite lumber (SCL) products such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL), laminated strand lumber (LSL) and parallel strand lumber (PSL). These engineered wood products can conceivably compete with sawn lumber and complement it in truss designs.

Information On Floor Trusses

Question: 

I am researching building products for a new home and I wanted to use metal plate connected floor trusses. When I took my plans to the builder, they cautioned me against using these floor trusses. They stated that they were not engineered products, they do not carry any kind of warranty, and they do not know how long they last over time. My basement span is 30 ft., they said trusses could not span 30 ft. I really would like to use floor trusses, but now I am unsure. Could you offer any information?