*
i am from ireland and need to get specification information on floor trusses, so that i can get a roof trusse manufacturer from here to fabricate them for me. in ireland there is no floor trusse technology being used.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
The FHB Podcast crew takes a closer look at an interesting roof.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
*
If you want floor trusses, wouldn't it be better to buy them from a floor truss manufacturer? Are you in Ireland and planning to ship or moved here and new to the terrritory?
*i'm living in ireland and there are no floor trusse manufacturers here at all. so i need the spec.'s and then i can get a roof trusse manufacturer to fabricate them for me.
*It's hard to believe that your local truss manufacturer doesn't have an engineer on staff who can do this or that they would want the liability of building somebody elses engineering. Surely there is an engineer in Ireland who could do this. If not try doing a search to locate the floor truss companies here and e-mail them dirtectly. Maybe somebody else can list some they use by name.Open web trusses are great for the subs to run mechanicals through and greater spans are possible than with solid lumber.
*There isn't anything good about floor trusses except the long spans. blue
*why? what problems are there with them?i had hoped that the cost might be the only downside.
*Blue,What's so terrible about floor trusses??? The fact you can easily run plumbing, electrical, and heating through them? Just ask an electrician if it makes their lives easier. Probably the greatest advantage of floor trusses is the fact you can increase the depth without substantially increasing their cost. The deeper the member, the stiffer the floor. Never seen a 24" deep I-Joist.
*that's true but i don't want to use any space i don't need to, while still spanning the 30 feet in one go.
*Eddie, floor trusses are like parts of a jigsaw puzzle. If you get one piece wrong....I've rarely had any good experiences with floor trusses. If it is a big job, it takes an extraordinary amount of time, sifting through the pieces of the puzzle, making sure that you don't accidently put a wrong piece in a right spot. Often, the field carpenters make small adjustments to the deck, to accomodate the upstairs loads. With floor trusses, these small adjustments turn into nightmares.My last experience with floor trusses was a typical nightmare. The deck took two of us two days. Overall, because we had to leave the job, and let the builder make foundation adjustments, it took four days. I could have done that typical deck, using a steel beam and dimensional joists in four hours (25x25, maybe five total. Instead, I have 32 hours, of which 16 could be billable as "extra". Nevertheless, it still takes a lot more time getting the details (headers, lengths, etc.) right. Like I said, the only thing good about floor trusses is the long spans....blue
*Mike, I'm not that excited about saving the electricians two hours of hole drilling. The plumber has the best advantage, but I'm not a plumber. The floor systems don't usually make the heating guys job easiser. Don't be fooled about cost though. It's a lot more expensive to get stiffer floors. blue
*I've never had a floor truss system that didn't have a detailed layout sheet to accompany it. Its all there, they even use red black and green on the layout sheets to clearly differentiate between things. I don't understand what could be difficult about using them? I guess the only thing would be if you didn't follow the manufacturers layout, then you would have a nightmare on your hands. But every one I've seen has it clearly marked as to where the layout starts, what the centers will be, etc.
*What could be difficult about using them? It seems so simple doesn't it?Well yesterday, I had the pleasure of dipping into a pile that will eventually be a 3300 sq ft ranch. I spent about 4 hours moving them into their general area with a crane. Crane bill: $300. I could easily spread 3300sq ft of 2x10 joist in four hours with two guys. And the joist wouldn't be in the general area, they'd be laying within 1" of their exact fixed location. This morning, I got to start the day, figuring out how to whack the needed paralams. They sent a huge pile of paralams, the longest was 28' x 3.5". I spent at least an hour and one half, calculating and figuring how to get all the cuts out of the long pieces. I needed about 15 beams total and it took two tries to determine how to get the most out of what I had available. In the end, I was still short a 12' and a 4' beam. So much for computer generated beam takeoffs. It' great to get long lengths when needed, but I'd rather get a 12' beam and a 14' rather than a 26'.Next was the minor problem about hangers. I had two boxes of hangers, about 100 total. I didn't have any idea where any go. Oh yeah, the main steel beam is set according to the plan, but it doesn't jive with the measurements given on othe parts of the plan. Ooops, the beam is now running through a stairwell opening. Since I have all the joist already fabbed, I can't just whack a little here and there. We'll need engineering...Oh yeah, another problem....they didn't send any of the bolts that are required to fabricate a connection....Oh oh, the beam problem is causing another problem. The floor trusses are only catching the beam by 2". Will this pass the engineering test for that particular truss? It has a wedge right there and it appears like it might be a problem....Oh, I see an apparent 3.5" paralam not marked. Is this a beam, or another computer error (it's a beam, and that was the one that they missed). I wonder when that will show up?Oh boy, the exact detailed layout sheet has landed one truss in the fireplace space. And look it how easy the header openings are to frame....I've got 100 long, ugly hangers with so many holes, I'm depressed thinking about them. Those 14" headers arn't light either. Jeff, I managed to get one member standing by coffee today. I had one intersecting header attached to that first member by lunch. I made at least ten calls to the lumber salesman, truss saleswoman, and she refferred me to the truss desighner who couldn't help me with the fireplace problem, although we worked out several others (the beam that shouldn't be where it's supposed to be). If this was a dimensional framed deck, I'd have fired the entire crew if we didn't have the entire deck covered today (our second full day, with a walkout). I doubt that we'll be able to get it sheathed tomorrow.I always charge at least 1k more for floor trusses. It appears that I've shortchanged myself on this one...blue
*Just another day in paradise.... Another day in paradise....... S.
*blue this one is a classic....
*I agree Tim. The previous floor truss situation was only slightly better. The foundation contractor poured the foundation a couple inches too high. If we were using dimensional lumber, we simply would have notched a corner off the bottom of our joist and placed an interior wall underneath to guarantee the support. Instead, it turned into a twelve hour consulting session (two of us standing for unbearingly long durations waiting for the engineers and architechts to do battle). In the end, the foundation wall got cut down and the job was delayed four days.Simple.....blue
*with all your talk to each other, none of you technical genius', none, managed to answer my question!thanks guys.
*Eddie, your question was answered in the first post or two. You probably didn't like the answer, but we can't guarantee answers that you want to hear.I'll answer it again. Get a local engineer to design your trusses.blue
*thanks blue
*
i am from ireland and need to get specification information on floor trusses, so that i can get a roof trusse manufacturer from here to fabricate them for me. in ireland there is no floor trusse technology being used.