Trusses of Damocles

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

OK, they're hanging by more than a horsehair... a couple of toenails through the top chord- that 2x4 horizontal ledger carried no weight, top chords were cut too short to bear on it and anyway, these trusses were not designed to hang from the top chord but to bear on the end of the bottom chord, either in a hanger or bearing directly on a wall- and a few deck screws in hangers at the bottom chord. 2x4 hangers. Deck screws. Built in 1975. The garage roof four doors down in the same complex collapsed last winter.

Trusses in the left side of the first picture had no hangers at all and were bearing on the offset wall, four feet back from the end of the truss.Trusses are designed not to bear on interior walls and bottom chords should bear no weight except at design points, typically at the truss ends.

[msylvester]

Looks like this one's next.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Kenton;

If those are Manufactured trusses, why all the plywood gussets added?

It sure the hell won't help it from a collapes. ha. ha. They have got to be kidding on building something like that.

Marcel
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[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Clueless homeowner thought he was beefing up the trusses. He scewed 3' 2x4's over bottom chord butt splices with gangnails, because those little metal plates couldn't possible hold all that weight. You can see them in the first picture if you look carefully.
I'm surprised this baby is still standing. We had a fair amount of snow (for here) last year.

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Good screws. ha. ha. Must have been made in Canada. (similar to torx)

Marcel

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Those hangers should have nails, not screws. Simpson is very specific with their requirements for fasteners. . .

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by jpope

Those hangers should have nails, not screws. Simpson is very specific with their requirements for fasteners. . .

Exactly, Jeff... they should be nailed with teco nails which are designed for nailing hangers- sufficient diameter and alloy for high shear strength. They're easy to spot, they have thick heads and they're not vinyl coated. 16d vinyl-coated sinkers (checkered heads) are OK, 8d sinkers are technically not OK but I'm not sure I'd call that unless some hanger holes were left unfilled.
Should also have hangers with many more holes, five per side or more (into framing, not truss), and should be nailed directly to wood framing, not nailed through drywall.

Why would anyone drywall the garage before they framed garage roof? Thinking they'd maintain the firewall?

[Richard A. Hetzel]

I really like the one where they bent the corner of the gang-nail plate and smacked a nail through it into the wall. Why haven't I thought of that??

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Kenton, What did you reccommend on this one?

Let me guess, find someone to fix in a hurry or it will get demolished by itself. ha. ha.

Marcel

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Originally Posted by mcyr

Kenton, What did you reccommend on this one?

Let me guess, find someone to fix in a hurry or it will get demolished by itself. ha. ha.

Marcel

"Non-professional changes to roof framing were visible and trusses were inadequately supported. Original structural metal connectors (hangers) had been replaced with hangers of inadequate design and fastened with fasteners of inadequate strength (deck screws). Trusses above the offset section of the garage/house wall had no hangers installed and were bearing on the truss bottom chord at a point at which they were not designed to support a load. Under conditions such as heavy snow load it is possible that the fasteners connecting garage trusses to wall framing could fail, resulting in the collapse of the garage roof. This condition should be corrected immediately by a qualified contractor following specifications provided by a structural engineer.
Annotations in photos below are typical of all garage trusses."

It's a foreclosure the bank has claimed for sale "as is".

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Nice Kenton, good job.

Not too many of these good ones come my way. Or at least not that bad. ha. ha.

Marcel

[Richard A. Hetzel]

...and were bearing on the truss bottom chord at a point at which they were not designed to support a load.

Could it be that what appears to be studs on the back wall are actually part of the trusses, and that they are indeed bearing on a point which is designed to support a load? that's the way it looks to me.

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

Richard, the top chords were clearly cut, and not at the factory, they didn't align with and didn't appear to be meant to be continuous with the rest of the roof or wall structure and the bottom chords seemed to be the supporting point. The garage roof truss system appeared to be entirely separate from the main home structure framing.