At Home In The Woods

[Obed]

Did you go with this style truss to save on work for your subs? or was their a price advantage?

I don't think the web trusses like ours are necessarily cheaper than the I-joists though I'm not certain. All three contractor bids came back with web trusses in their bids. Since we spec'd 24" trusses in our construction specs, there might not have been an option for the contractors to submit bids that included I-joists instead of web trusses. I've seen both kinds of trusses around here. I suspect that the I-joists might be more common here and are less expensive than the web trusses. The web trusses like ours seem to use more solid wood than the I-joists (i.e. all 2x4s, no OSB) so it would make sense to me that the web trusses would cost more than the I-joists but then again I could be wrong. Also, it's my uneducated impression that it would require more I-joists than our 24" high web trusses to hold the same weight so the I-joists would need to be closer together than our web trusses. Please remember that our trusses could have been spaced 24" apart; we just didn't like them that far apart so we spent extra to go with the 19.2" spacing. I've never noticed I-joists spaced 24" apart.

Obed

 

[CurlyDave]

...when we finish the basement we'll put in a drop ceiling. I like having access to the plumbing, etc. so prefer to avoid sheetrock in the basement ceiling if possible.

Obed

I did a very similar thing with our retirement house in OR. The lower story has a 10' ceiling. Above that is a 3' chase for ductwork, plumbing, whatever meets your fancy. Then 12" CBI joists and the upper story. The drop ceiling is at the 10' level and that space in between is very handy.

Ours is on a hill and we have drive up entrances at both levels. The upper level is our living area--better view.

The only problem to date is that the Post Office delivers packages to the lower level because it is what you see as you drive up the driveway. UPS and Fedex are smart enough to drive to the front door on the upper level.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I have 16" TJI's over my garage. I think that is the max for TJI. I went to the factory, told them what I wanted to span, and they sized them out for me and provided a stamp for them.
iLevel by Weyerhaeuser is now their web site.

edit: just noticed Eddie's link to the TJ-4005, which is under their commercial flooring. I was looking at TJ-4000 under residential flooring. The 16" ones I have are 24' long, pretty heavy to put up by yourself. They come with different web thickness's. I originally sized mine as 14" with a thicker web for the amount of deflection. The factory determined that the 16" ones with a thinner web were as strong, and costs less, saving me money. What I failed to notice, was the extra 2" kind of messed me up with my garage doors, but it worked out. When I first saw Truss Joists being used, I thought they were junk. I am sold on them now. you can't get 2x10's as flat and true as you can the truss's. I have also used the trusses that Obed is using and like them also.

Notice their span charts, 16"oc, 19.2"oc, 24"oc.

 

[towmotor]

I've seen the diamonds on tape measures, but never new what they were for and didn't associate the 19.2". Guess I'm just too used to 12, 16, or 24 inches. Never too late to learn something new.

Called Stanley tools about this one time. They didn't know either. We figured it was some oddball Canadian thing or something like that.

A few years later, I happened to be looking at joist span tables with my town building inspector, and the tables included "19.2"

"What's that for?" I demanded.
He told me that he had only seen (or specified, as an engineer) it's use in large wood frame structures (like big condo projects) where a savings in material and man hours could be significant.
I might have saved about fifty bucks on the building I was putting up at the time.

 

[Bartcephus]

Glad to see you back in action Obed. I too joined the war against freezing pipes and trying to keep a camper warm this last weekend. Love to see a couple of weeks of freezing temps to kill off the ticks, chiggers, fire ants and stuff, but it sure raises havoc here in the south. The cold won't get them all but it helps reduce the number of pests. You will appreciate that in the summer.

 

[WBWI]

WBWI, your place looks awesome. I love the back deck and the windows looking out the back. I bet you enjoy looking out those windows.

Obed

Thanks Obed, we do love the location and the view. I'm looking forward to watching the progress on your place. Hopefully the weather starts to cooperate. We built in Wisconsin, started in December and completed in July. The contractors had a tough time Jan- March. It was so cold their air tools froze. They worked as much as they could and after things froze up they went home. I gusss they never heard of hammers.... LOL

 

[eepete]

I have the same trusses, 24" deep. I had to put in "smoke blocks" (that's what the inspector called them) to break up any area greater than 1000 sq. feet. You basically put 1/2" plywood all along the truss. In the basement, I put one in under an area where there would be lots of foot traffic so the bounce would be reduced. You can also do some bounce test once the floor is in and consider putting one in if the bounce in some area is objectionable.

I just mention this in case you run in to it, you might want to ask your inspector or builder about it. It would be ugly to find this out after plumbing or electrical were run. You can put holes in it, you just have to seal/caulk the holes as things go through it.

Pete

 

[Pops15]

I have the same trusses, 24" deep. I had to put in "smoke blocks" (that's what the inspector called them) to break up any area greater than 1000 sq. feet. You basically put 1/2" plywood all along the truss. In the basement, I put one in under an area where there would be lots of foot traffic so the bounce would be reduced. You can also do some bounce test once the floor is in and consider putting one in if the bounce in some area is objectionable.

I just mention this in case you run in to it, you might want to ask your inspector or builder about it. It would be ugly to find this out after plumbing or electrical were run. You can put holes in it, you just have to seal/caulk the holes as things go through it.

Pete

Never heard of that requirement in single family residential. It's not a bad idea. It's common in multi-family and commercial though.

 

[jake98]

and send in the teenagers to do those jobs. Thanks,
Eddie

that'll cost ya

 

[jake98]

In the basement, I put one in under an area where there would be lots of foot traffic so the bounce would be reduced. You can also do some bounce test once the floor is in and consider putting one in if the bounce in some area is objectionable.

I just mention this in case you run in to it, you might want to ask your inspector or builder about it. You can put holes in it, you just have to seal/caulk the holes as things go through it.

Pete

There's too much bad advice here for me to address.