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Posted by Chuck on May 23, 2007, 3:20 am
> In a previous post Jim wrote...
>> Yeah, that's definitely part of it -- some storage up there would be
>> nice, but it's not necessary. My biggest concern is getting
>> flattened. If I post a photo or two of the press plates, would that
>> tell you anything?
>>
>
> A photo wouldn't tell much. Is there some reason you are concerned about
> these trusses if you aren't going to store anything in the attic? Are
> they showing signs of distress in some way?
>
> Again, from your original post I assume the trusses were designed for a
> pretty heavy snow load in upstate New York. The weight of a layer of
> sheetrock (even 5/8") and some insulation is most likely only a small
> portion of the truss design load.
>
> For your own piece of mind you could ask an engineer (structural or civil
> with structural emphasis) for a brief inspection. If it were me I would
> probably want to look at 50% or so of the press plate connections just to
> be safe. If they look okay then I think you could proceed safely.
>
> --
> Bob Morrison, PE, SE
> R L Morrison Engineering Co
> Structural & Civil Engineering
> Poulsbo WA
> bob at rlmorrisonengr dot com
Guys. Please remember that if the bottom chord was designed for 10 psf and
you store heavy material/books/paper etc that runs around 100 psf, 10 times
the design load you might be in trouble not just failure of the plates but
also the bottom chord. Not to mention deflection.
As Bob says do get an local engineer to do some inspection. For a little
expense a good engineer could analyze the truss for load capacity and have
some ideas for your storage, such as half of the space where additional
structure could be added specific to storage.
Just a thought.
CID...
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