On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 19:26:43 -0000, Chris Lewis wrote:
Keep in mind that roof trusses pretty well have to be engineered
well enough to support a person walking along the lower chord.
Which conservatively would be on the order of 300lbs on _each_
chord.

Yup. And every time I walk on mine, I get nailpops in the ceiling.
I estimate 1/2-in flex under my weight...

That in mind, I did the following: a chunk of 4x4 extending over
4 truss chords (on top). It just so happens that the 4x4 is
immediately adjacent to truss ties to the upper chord.

A 2x6 on edge (ie, 5-1/2-in tall) will carry more weight. And if you
fasten thru the 2x6 (thru the 1-1/2-in dimension) into vertical truss
members it will be very solid.

I'm wondering about doing my entire attic space that way to eliminate
the nail pops caused by my walking around up there (have a lot of wires
and plumbing to run).

I'd reinforce it (possibly with the assistance of an engineer)
if I thought I'd have to do full drums or something like that.

Full drum of water, eg 55gUS, is still well under your 1000lb
guestimate.

sdb

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