Replies

1. 
   Piffin | Mar 06, 2003 05:15am | #1

   Sure thing! It's not much harder than converting a John Deere into a Cadillac, but it can be done.

   .

   Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   BossHog | Mar 06, 2003 05:32am | #2

   Sometimes I get tired of the "call an engineer" line. But that's more or less what you need to do.

   It may or may not be possible, depending on a lot of factors. Things like the pitch, local codes, loading requirements, etc. Stuff we couldn't possibly know.

   Even if it's possible, it's not really practical. You'd more or less have to re-build the whole truss in place, while supporting the roof as wou went along. It would be cheaper and easier to rip the old roof off and replace the trusses. The 34' span makes it much more difficult.

   The only ones who can design such a conversion would be an engineer familiar with trusses and residential construction.

   Sorry - I'm sure that's not what you wanted to hear. But it's the reality.

   For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

3. 
   Armin110 | Mar 06, 2003 06:41am | #3

   I have done it several times, if you don't want to deal with an engineer then it's best to start with a clean slate. Namely assume the modified truss will not carry anything. The one job that comes to mind we had a room 24 ft wide x 18 ft long(ridge) I ran a pair of 19 ft. long LVL's  as a new interior ridge at the finished ceiling height, then sistered 2x8 rafters along each side of the truss and bolted them together every place they cross the existing truss webs. When it was all said and done we sawed out the remaining sections of the trusses and blocked up the center of the truss so the interior ridge now carried the peak of the truss. I drive by the place every day and after 20 years of 250 inches of annual snowfall it's still standing. HOWEVER unless you have some engineering experience it would be advisable to consult an engineer or at least buy an hour of his time and go over your plan.

1. 
   rez | Mar 06, 2003 06:32pm | #5

   Armin, you are the man.

    

    

4. 
   nino | Mar 06, 2003 10:24am | #4

   In my area, inspectors don't want factory built trusses modified in the field PERIOD! Even with an engineer's approval, inspectors here feel that a lot depends on the way the mods are carried out and that they don't have the time to check every truss out, so it's easier to just not allow it.

   You're better off tearing everything off and starting from scratch.