Replies

1. 
   JeffBuck | Apr 01, 2002 06:42am | #1

   Steve...the general logic here is Don't Cut the Truss!

   They can be.......but I wouldn't do it without the truss people...or an engineer.....drawing something up and signing of on it.

   compression...tension...all sorta things going on at that bottom chord.  If trussed...the OC is usually 24".......which makes plenty of room to go between.......gotta be somewhere else.....maybe not the first/prefered location.......where they'll have clearance to swing down and open.

   Hall, BR.....maybe a closet with room enough when the doors open. Out of one room and into the hall way....

   Start thinking about running them 90 deg. to how yo are now.

   It can be done......but running the other is way easier. Jeff

      *  Jeff J. Buck/ Buck Construction/ Pittsburgh, PA  *    

   2nd Generation Buck Const, 3rd generation Craftsman                         

2. 
   Mongo | Apr 01, 2002 06:59am | #2

   Steve,

   The short answer? "What Jeff Said."

   Since I never have a short answer...

   First, why do you want a set of stairs into the attic? Storage? Living space? You need to find out of your trusses are rated to withstand the increased load from storage/furniture on the bottom chords. Some trusses are rated for nothing other than to do the simple job of 1) holding up the roof, 2) keeping the exterior walls plumb, and 3) holding the load of the sheetrock of the ceiling below. Adding to that load could be...bad. Very bad. Other trusses are designed for the above PLUS the ability to handle the loads of a standard 40/10 living space laod. You need to find out what your trusses can and can not do.

   Once you find out if your trusses can do what you want them to do, then you have to find out if they can be cut and patched to cinstruct the stairwell. Again, each piece of a truss is an integral part of the truss as a whole. Some pieces are in tension, some in compression, but they work as a whole to keep your roof up and your exterior walls plumb. Cut a few without knowing what you're doing and again...bad things could happen.

   Not all trusses are the same, so no one here can really give you a step-by-step list on how to accomplish what you're trying to do.

   As painful as it is to do, you may need to part with a couple hundred dollars to have an engineer give you a real, workable plan that will allow you to reach your goals.

   Best of luck to you, and I hope the project works out in your favor.

1. 
   JeffBuck | Apr 01, 2002 08:52am | #3

   BTW....if all else fails.....here at this old house....I have a scuttle hole in a bedroom closet. The main stairs run under this closet.......so the back wall would have to be angled....to make the steps headroom. So...about a hundred years ago...someone was clever......and instead of sloping the back wall.....they built 3 big step-up's like boxes stacked on top of one another. Picture a goofy big set of steps.....just 3 steps to get from floor to ceiling.

   That is our access to the attic. In a tiny house with no extra space......really is a good solution.....and all we put up there is light stuff in boxes that easily fit thru the scuttle......so problem solved.

   I've also lived in places where a ladder stairs was built into the back closet wall.....and ya just climbed up into the attic.

   A buddy had an old place where some real steep stairs were built out from the back closet wall.....and made for good storage on the terads for little stuff.....then he'd clear it off the few times he had to climb up.

   Just trying to help ya think of options. Jeff   *  Jeff J. Buck/ Buck Construction/ Pittsburgh, PA  *    

   2nd Generation Buck Const, 3rd generation Craftsman                         

3. 
   BossHog | Apr 01, 2002 02:38pm | #4

   Jeff and Mongo are right - What you want to do is possible, but not very practical. Put the stairway parallel to the trusses or forget about it.