I’ve posted several times reminding everyone that it’s important to brace trusses properly when they’re being set.
These 2 articles were brought to my attention recently. In both cases trusses fell over while they were being set, and people were injured.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/05/25/loc_churchroof25.html
http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=1887545
I hope you guys will keep this in mind, and not let this kind of stuff happen to you.
“Let’s be careful out there” [The guy from “Hill Street Blues”]
Replies
Boss, thanks for the reminder. Although I have only dealt with trusses a couple of times (most residential work is sticks in MA) it always good to keep safety on the brain.
I always hear about "be sure to brace your trusses properly" but can't ever recall hearing what proper truss bracing consists of. Maybe someone with good experience should write an article on safe procedures when setting and bracing trusses. From what I've seen/heard it's always a race to get the crane off the clock as quick as possible. Speed is great in production work, but, as they say, speed kills.
When you get trusses delivered, you should get a bracing info sheet called "HIB-91". Most truss companies I know about give these out with every delivery. And they'll give you one if you ask for it.
You can download a copy of the thing at:
http://www.tpinst.org/Color%20HIB%2091%20Sheet_v3.pdf
Unfortunately it's a read-only PDF file, so you can't print it out for yourself. Don't know there's any way to "hack" a PDF file.Sex. In America, an obsession. In other parts of the world, a fact. [Marlene Dietrich]
Boss:
Thats the pdf I was asking about. The trusses are put up from the inside out instead of starting from the gable.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
I suspect you're referring to the picture in frame 2 showing interior bracing?
I think that's just an alternate bracing option - Not necessarily the recommended method. Ground bracing would be difficult on multi-story buildings.We can do no great things, only small things with great love. [Mother Theresa]
Boss,
I think you need to save the file first, and then open again to print.
Some PDF files are set up so you can't print them. Don't know much about the program, so I don't know how it's done. Maybe someone with some Adobe experience will chime in about it.Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that ever has. [Margret Mead]
Save the file someplace. Re-open and on the file menu..go to Document Security. Set to No Security. Now you can print, or do anything else for that matter.
That may work in Adobe, if you have the program and created the file in the first place. But it doesn't work in Adobe reader.
When I click on "File" and "Document Properties", I get the options shown in the attached picture.The nicest thing about the promise of Spring is that sooner or later she'll have to keep it.
Boss, don't tell anyone.
Well, I guess now I know if PDF files can be hacked.
(-:If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.
You're right that you need the full version of Adobe, not just the reader. That file was not password protected by the way, and no hacking was necessary to print it out. Sounds like a good reason the company should purchase a fuill version of Adobe for you.
When you use adobe software to create a pdf, you can set it up so that it won't print; you can do this with a password, so that others can't print it. This is usually used to allow people to read something over the web that is a document for sale; that way, if you want a printed version, you have to buy it.
That's kinda what I figured.
I know some hackers have invented way to "decode" password protected stuff. I don't know if that's happened with Adobe stuff or not.
The WTCA makes money by selling these things, which is probably why it's restricted from being printed.
Still, it's sometimes nice to be able to print one when you need a copy once in a while.Software suppliers are trying to make their software packages more "user-friendly"... Their best approach, so far, has been to take all the old brochures, and stamp the words, "user-friendly" on the cover. [Bill Gates]
as they say, speed kills.
When I was a wee lad, and we lived on the shores of Lake Ontario, we'd get all the Buffalo, Rochester, and Watertown TV stations.... Often, the Buffalo channel would show a picture of a syringe with a caption "Speed Kills" and another with "Don't Shoot"....took me years before I figured that out. I always thought they should have had a car and a gun.....
"Let's be careful out there" [Sgt. Phil Esterhaus]
m
Probably can't be reminded of safety too often. I guess it is the size but churches seem to be more frequent in collapse during construction. I am chair of our building committee and we just roofed over a flat roof on our edu wing. Trusses were not overly large, about 43 long and 11 high. I was not there when erected but I was very impressed with the amount of strapping and plentiful use of the Simpson brace/spacers. Project went great, great GC, he has gotten many referrals from this. On budget, under schedule, over expectations.
I'm a little leery of those metal truss spacers you mentioned. They aren't intended to replace bracing, but they're generally used that way.
I've been out on jobs where there was hardly a stick of wood bracing in the roof. And I've walked through more than one set of trusses on the ground that had almost no wood braces.
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I would agree that churches are prime targets for truss problems. They generally combine 3 things: Large spans, tight budgets, and (sometimes) inexperienced crews.
I know of one job in Chicago where they set the trusses THREE TIMES by church volunteers before they ever got it under roof. Fortunately the trusses fell over at night the first 2 times, so no one was hurt. But it cost them a truckload of money.
The worst one was also my first. It was a gym that was being added onto a church. The trusses came down with 9 guys on the roof. Turns out the framer had no insurance, and didn't own anything but a pickup truck. The church took a HUGE financial hit on that one. Don't really know what happened to any of the guys.
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What REALLY bugs me about truss bracing is that framers won't listen. When you try to warn them about it they take it like you're insulting them. Or they think we're just trying to cover our butts liability-wise, and don't really care about them or their guys. But that's not the case.
So as long as I'm in the truss business, this is one battle that will never really be won.Sex. In America, an obsession. In other parts of the world, a fact. [Marlene Dietrich]
FH #128, Dec '99 / Jan '00, has, for you archive junkies following this interesting thread, an article called "Common Engineering Problems in Frame Construction," which addresses both truss bracing, and truss loading during construction. Some nice pointers are made about how to best support stacks of 4x8 sheathing.
You regulars will recall the thread that discussed the LVL in someone's garage that the framer whacked a large triangle off the top end of. This issue is discussed in that same article, and the code maximum cut is clearly shown.