thanks James but I'm more interested in the maximum allowable span of a
gambrel roof truss and loft space.


"jamesgangnc" wrote in message
...
On Dec 22, 11:49 am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Dec 21, 5:31 pm, "Danimal" wrote:





Hi all,
I have a major problem, first the concrete slab that was poured for my
new
garage has gone to **** because of a bad batch of concrete. This is an
argument and moan for another day.
Here's my main beef that I need expert advice only, please I do not want
opinions . I need solid proof, so if you can send me to a site or show
me an
engineered diagram it would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
I took a contractor to a friends garage that measures 24'across x 26
long,
the garage has a Gambrel Roof Truss which allows a 15' wide x 26 long
room
upstairs with an 8ft ceiling. I told the contractor that this is exactly
what I want, the only difference was I wanted my garage to be 26' x 26'
He viewed the garage and said that he seen enough and knew exactly what
I
wanted.
Since then, the roof trusses are now out in my yard and the space
allowed
for a upstairs room is only 12' x 26', The contractor told me the bigger
you
go with the garage, the room upstairs has to be smaller. I could almost
believe this but the gambrel truss is not even the same design even
though
it has 2x 6 material where as my friends had only 2x 4's . Here's the
question Can it be possibel to have a 15' room upstairs, 8' ft
ceilings
top and bottom floors using a Gambrel (barn style) truss on a 26' wide
garge. I know this contractor is waltzing me around and I need proof
that he
is lying.
Thanks in advance for all help
Danimal

You "can" do anything. As long as it's engineered correctly. I'd
guess the guy spec'd the roof trusses wrong. Did you have any sort of
spec sheet as part of your "contract" with him? Doesn't have to be a
big production, just a page or two with the highlights like dimensions
in it. If not then you might be in a tight spot. Even with it's
going to be hard to get him to abandon that much money in the
trusses. He might decide it's better to just walk away from the whole
job. So you'll have to decide where you want to go with it from
here. Another option might be to find someone to buy those trusses on
craig's list. You'll take a loss though.

I'm not a huge fan of the manufactured roof trusses for 2nd story
space so I went with manufactured floor joists and stick built roof in
my garage project. The downside is that they are 22" tall and with a
10' garage ceiling that makes my 2nd story floor pretty far above
grade. The plus side is that my 2nd story is floored all the way to
the outside dimensions and I can do anything I want with the space
cause there is nothing load bearing in it.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...9&l=ccd438df1e

I've got my own contractor dilemma though. My guy has dropped off the
face of the earth for 2 months now. Fortunately I've only paid him
for work done, not work "to be done". But I still need some grading
finished plus a few other odds and ends and I don't have the equipment
for that so I'd just as soon he show back up. Without a rollback it's
expensive to rent equipment.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Here's what I did for specs. It covers the basics.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jamesgangnc/garage/