I was looking at some trusses over a friend’s garage in the new house he is having built. They are roof trusses which butt up against the wall of the second floor bedroom over the garage, so they are basically a half truss.
I have a problem with the onsite notching they did to support the trusses on the 2x4 nailed to the lam beam. My feeling is this changes the bearing point from the bottom cord of the truss to the side cord and places stress on the gusset plate right where it connects to the side cord. It seems like now the bottom cord and web are hanging from the side chord instead of being in compression.
I think it could be addressed with a metal hanger, but I’m not even sure about that. Is this even a problem? Thoughts?
Looking at the placement of the gusset plates, I don’t think these were notched but constructed this way. I think if they were full bottom chords, the gusset would have been further to the end of the chord. I sure don’t like the side chord only being attached with 3 or 4 prongs of the gusset. I tend to agree with you that there should be a hanger of some sort installed.
I bet Marcel would agree that they have been modified to fit. The dimensional lumber on the right is a dead give away and the undersized gusset plate. I would think also if they did do this it should have firm blocking.
It would be nice to see how they constructed the whole truss.
There should be truss design document onsite if it’s a new home under construction. Mention your concern about a possible modification and refer them to the documents. Everything else is just a guess unless you look at that.
Ask to see the truss design documents. A copy, typically, comes with the load of trusses. Being newly constructed they should have it or be able to get a copy. That will tell if it is an engineered design or site modification. It is hard to comment without signs of movement, modification or missing damaged members.
Edit: I agree with Joe’s comment directing the client to the documents after indicating your potential concerns.
Typical half truss… I have installed them, the only think I would question simply because I can not see the picture clearly, is the nailing of the ledger.
I admit the reason I thought they may be modified was because of the tearout at the end of the bottom 2x4 and the 1/2" gap. It seemed sloppy and it doesn’t look like a very stout detail. My mistake if they aren’t modified. Maybe I’m over thinking it.
Rarely do you have them tight…simply because the designer / builder fail to account for the 1/2 osb in there measurements…or the framer doesn’t notch the osb out for the them.
Example…you have a 30’ wide home…will the framer do 30’ frame (stud) to frame (stud) or is that 30’ outside OSB to outside OSB…see what I am saying.
