Using these trusses in a small shed?

charlz · Feb 5, 2015

One of the things on my 'someday' list is to build my wife a garden shed. Someone on Craigslist is selling some trusses that came out of a going out of business auction at a truss manufacture. The ones I am interested in are the first 5 or so pics in the ad and are the 宋aulted ceiling type:

Small trusses

At $15 each I am thinking they are quite a bit cheaper than buying new? For now I would just buy them and store them out of the weather. The vaulted ceiling style is appealing since it would leave room to hang plants for drying etc without having to work around rafters and give a nice open feeling. The shed would not be insulated. The shed would be around 10'x20' so these would appear to work (with careful measuring ahead of time of course). I am just not clear on how to tie them into the walls and any other bracing or other considerations I would need to plan for.

Thanks,
Charles

MH8675309 · Feb 5, 2015

Hurricane clips or 2 x 4 saddle blocks if it is pole style. Nail a 2 x 4 near the top of one side of the roof with a nail in each truss to keep the trusses where they belong until you get one side sheeted (shingled roof) or strapped (steel roof). Good luck

KiotiJason · Feb 5, 2015

Mate, working with trusses is easy. Very often there is a mistake and brand new ones are available very cheep. Don't worry about the attachment methods as there off the shelf truss brackets and speed bracing. Just make sure you have it locked down and braced well and you should have no problems. Also make sure you used the proper connection plate nails not just regular gal clouts. The connection plate nails are tempered and designed for this perpose. Post som pics when you finished.

MH8675309 · Feb 5, 2015

The nails Kioti is talking about are shear resistant nails. They look like a #16 but are only about 1 1/4 " long. We called them joist hanger nails since we used them to fasten in joist hanger brackets.

s219 · Feb 5, 2015

It might be good to know what the snow load rating is on the trusses if you get a lot of snow in your area, but I suspect they are pretty stout if they are local to Idaho.

Trusses don't need a whole lot of hold down fasteners, and before we knew better, they were usually just toenailed in. Now that builders take wind uplift into account, trusses are also held down with hurricane ties or other metal strapping. Generally 2 hurricane ties per truss (i.e., one each eave) are enough, but you can double that to 4 (two per eave) in high wind areas.

Anyhow, to hold the trusses in place, builders generally still toenail. But you can also screw into them from below, through a top plate, if using a standard framed wall. There are even screws that will provide uplift resistance when screwed through the plate from below (thus avoiding need for ties) but they are a little pricey. So I'd say just toenail them in or you can block them in place with small scraps of 2x4. Generally, I nail a small 2x4 block to the top plate/beam to act as a "stop", slide the truss seat up against it, and then toenail through the truss and block into the top plate/beam with long nails or screws.

$15 each is a steal -- I'd grab some if they were the right size and span. But also price up standard rafters (2x8, 2x10, 2x12, etc.... depending on span and snow load) and figure out which is a better value. If working alone, it will probably make more sense to put up a ridge beam and nail rafters on one by one -- that is a one person job. Putting up large trusses is a 2-3 person job.

pmsmechanic · Feb 5, 2015

s219 said:
Putting up large trusses is a 2-3 person job.

Maybe you should define a large truss. I put up 16, 32 foot long trusses up on a 12 foot wall all by myself. It was a lot of trips up and down a ladder but I got it done.

Mace Canute · Feb 6, 2015

Years ago I built a small shed; local bylaws limit me to 100 sq ft or less so I made it 12' by 8'. I used seven 8' manufactured floor joists like these to support a flat top roof.

I cut pieces of plywood 2' long and just wide enough to fit between the joists and lay supported on the bottom member so I now have 12 shelves up high with a vertical height of just under a foot. The bottom of the joists are just high enough to clear my head. I also used pre-painted metal panels for the walls and roof (with the roof having plywood under the panels) and it's stood up well for over 20 year now with no problems whatsoever.

farmer2009 · Feb 6, 2015

Those should work nicely. What kind of siding are you going to use. If metal then just set some post on each side as a 10 foot span is workable on width. Place a double header on each side of post. Then place a false post at each truss location that doesn't fall at a post. Place trusses. Through nail with ring shank barn nails. Ad ties if needed.

charlz · Feb 6, 2015

Thanks for the info guys, a little more detail: anything with floor space of less than 200 sqft does not require a building permit. Per local code the mininum snow rating for roofs is 25lbs/sqft and the mininum wind speed is 90mph. The basic concept of what I would like to build is concrete floor and footings, 2x4(6?) walls, local stone facing on the exterior with a rusty tin roof. The idea is to make it look like a old stone garden house but with some modern conviences like a little garage door around back where a cart can be pulled in etc. It has been in the 'idea' stage for a while and I want to move to the 'materials collection' phase and maybe get the footings and floor done this summer.