If this isn’t the correct forum for this Topic I trust someone will move it, but I really want to thank the guys here at FHB Breaktime.
A little background: I grew up on a farm and was building stuff from an early age. I’ve worked as a finish carpenter, but also did other things in my life. Last Spring I logged onto FHB and asked about roof trusses. I wanted to build a house for myself and I needed a design for a good roof truss. I wanted a scissors truss with cathedral ceilings and I wanted decent insulation. My house would be built in S.W. Missouri. So a couple of guys replied with some excellent ideas and this is what I did last summer:
In June I basically did my crawlspace and the joists and subfloor. My cousin is a Contractor and had put in my foundation in 2010.
Then in July I started building trusses on top the subfloor. I measured very carefully and built a form on top the master bedroom subfloor. I used that form for the next two months to build over 50 scissors trusses in five different lengths. I used my old Comet radial arm saw to cut the truss members. I’ve got a couple of these Comets, and kept one set up for 90 degree cuts and this I used for angle cuts. Once set, these saws just about never go out of adjustment. They are the little brothers of the Comet 16″ radials that lumber companies all over the U.S. used at one time.
Here are some of the master bedroom trusses which I built first.
I used #1 grade yellow pine 2X6 stock, which I got from an Amish lumber yard, and they let me pick through their stock and pick the lumber I wanted. Many of the 2X6’s were clear and all were pretty straight. It was gorgeous lumber. I used malleable cast-iron washers with 7/16ths bolts to bolt the truss members together, gluing every joint with plastic resin glue spec’d for structural use. I used 1/2″ plywood gusset plates where noted, and glued and nailed them on. July was the hottest we’ve had in a long time, with 25 days of over 100 degree temps, and I worked every one of those days. I sweat like a pig. I built these trusses by myself and moved them with my front end loader. I built trusses all of July and most of August. Then in Sept. and Oct. I built walls–built them myself too. I built them flat on the subfloor, stacking them one on top of the other when I ran out of room. Here I’m standing on 3 walls holding my trusty Hitachi NR83. I couldn’t have done this without that nail gun.
Sometimes I had visitors to the jobsite. I don’t think these were Osha approved turkeys though.
So after 4 months of building walls and trusses, my cousin came over with his crew and in 2.5 days we raised the walls and hung the trusses. Every wall went together pretty nicely and every truss fit perfectly. I tell ya, I breathed a sigh of relief!
My cousin is on the left watching his crew hang the trusses.
That same afternoon it looked like this:
Then we roofed it.
Replies
Now, that looks like a well built house! Diagonal sheathing is old school, but strong. Crawl looks great too.
Nice, neat job.
Others commented on the diagonal sheathing--did you use it because you saved money buying from a local mill?
Are those trusses built using splitring construction? Where did you get the truss designs?