I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses and
cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

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gareth.harris

Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

It needs some restraining bars going in - steel bars about 2ft long and an
inch wide, full of holes - you nail one end to the truss and the long part
is affixed to the wall - it's so that a strong wind can't lift the roof off.
They take about 5 minutes to affix and cost about £3 each

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008

Phil L wrote:
Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

It needs some restraining bars going in - steel bars about 2ft long and an
inch wide, full of holes - you nail one end to the truss and the long part
is affixed to the wall - it's so that a strong wind can't lift the roof off.
They take about 5 minutes to affix and cost about £3 each

Often known as "Bat straps" (after a common brand). One difficulty in
retro fitting is that they often dip below the loft floor level ang get
plastered over.

--
Cheers,

John.

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John Rumm wrote:
Phil L wrote:
Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

It needs some restraining bars going in - steel bars about 2ft long
and an inch wide, full of holes - you nail one end to the truss and
the long part is affixed to the wall - it's so that a strong wind
can't lift the roof off.
They take about 5 minutes to affix and cost about £3 each

Often known as "Bat straps" (after a common brand). One difficulty in
retro fitting is that they often dip below the loft floor level ang get
plastered over.


Thanks for that information.

--
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To reply to me directly:

Replace privacy.net with: totalise DOT co DOT uk and replace me with
gareth.harris

Phil L wrote:
Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

It needs some restraining bars going in - steel bars about 2ft long and an
inch wide, full of holes - you nail one end to the truss and the long part
is affixed to the wall - it's so that a strong wind can't lift the roof off.
They take about 5 minutes to affix and cost about £3 each


Phil,

Thanks for your quick and helpful reply.

Gareth

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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
To reply to me directly:

Replace privacy.net with: totalise DOT co DOT uk and replace me with
gareth.harris

On Jul 8, 7:48*pm, "Phil L" wrote:
Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? *Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

It needs some restraining bars going in - steel bars about 2ft long and an
inch wide, full of holes - you nail one end to the truss and the long part
is affixed to the wall - it's so that a strong wind can't lift the roof off.
They take about 5 minutes to affix and cost about £3 each

--
Phil L
RSRL Tipster Of The Year 2008


The roof trusses are fixed to the gable wall by L shaped straps, these
are fixed to the under side of the roof truss and the short leg is
place over the inner wall. They should be fixed to the inside of the
outer wall with fixings but I’ve only seen this done once. They are
not to stop the roof from lifting off in high wind. The one referred
to in the other posting are fixed on to the wall plate at the eave and
down the internal walls and plastered over, theses are the ones that
hold the wall plate that the trusses are fixed to at the eave.
Roll Edge Restraint Strap Bend 500 x 100mm Pack of 5 from Screw fix

"Kipper at sea" wrote in message
...
On Jul 8, 7:48 pm, "Phil L" wrote:
Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

Fixing gable walls to the end two or three trusses with galvanised straps is
now a requirement - and our new extension has just had these fitted and
signed off by the BCO. However, when our house (bungalow) was built in 1970
this was not a requirement, and so the other end original gable does not
have these straps, which like yours was picked up two years ago by our pre
purchase survey. I asked our (friendly and helpful) BCO about this, and he
said that the straps are to add extra support to the gable wall, and to
prevent said wall from being blown or sucked out in extreme conditions. He
also said that this only really happens to houses in very exposed
conditions, and that there was generally no problem otherwise. Building regs
are not retrospective, so while your surveyors was correct in saying that
the lack of straps is not up to current spec, it's likely that you don't
have a problem, unless you are by the sea or on a mountain. If you do want
to add them they can be screwed to the underside of the trusses, and to the
inside of the wall. This will give most of the support intended, if not
quite as much as in their proper position above the trusses with the 90
degree ends over the gable walls.

Charles F

On Jul 9, 7:09*am, "Charles Fearnley"
wrote:
"Kipper at sea" wrote in ...
On Jul 8, 7:48 pm, "Phil L" wrote:

Gareth wrote:
I'm in the process of buying a house and the surveyor has said that
there is a problem with the roof: "the end trusses are not properly
secured to the walls"

How should roof trusses be fixed to walls? Is it just a matter of
nailing/screwing in a few bits of wood?

It's a fairly ordinary house, about 18 years old with timber trusses
and cavity walls.

Thanks for any information.

Gareth.

Fixing gable walls to the end two or three trusses with galvanised straps is
now a requirement - and our new extension has just had these fitted and
signed off by the BCO. However, when our house (bungalow) was built in 1970
this was not a requirement, and so the other end original gable does not
have these straps, which like yours was picked up two years ago by our pre
purchase survey. I asked our (friendly and helpful) BCO about this, and he
said that the straps are to add extra support to the gable wall, and to
prevent said wall from being blown or sucked out in extreme conditions. He
also said that this only really happens to houses in very exposed
conditions, and that there was generally no problem otherwise. Building regs
are not retrospective, so while your surveyors was correct in saying that
the lack of straps is not up to current spec, it's likely that you don't
have a problem, unless you are by the sea or on a mountain. If you do want
to add them they can be screwed to the underside of the trusses, and to the
inside of the wall. This will give most of the support intended, if not
quite as much as in their proper position above the trusses with the 90
degree ends over the gable walls.

Charles F

You are 100% correct about the straps being fitted above the truss /
rafter but they nearly always come directly under a lath, which means
they have to be taken off and re positioned. General practice today is
to fit them underneath the truss or rafter. And yes that’s the
function of the straps, to support the gable walls, not to stop the
roof from lifting.

In article ,
Kipper at sea writes:

You are 100% correct about the straps being fitted above the truss /
rafter but they nearly always come directly under a lath, which means
they have to be taken off and re positioned. General practice today is
to fit them underneath the truss or rafter. And yes that=92s the
function of the straps, to support the gable walls, not to stop the
roof from lifting.

Yes - it came about after a number of gable-end walls have blown out
(or in) in high winds. With the advent of roof trusses and the demise
of purlins, the gable-end walls had no weight on them and no lateral
support, and were considerably more vulnerable as a result.

This is also something anyone thinking of fitting anything like a
boiler (or other off-set weight) to a gable-end wall must consider;
it doesn't take much to pull one over.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]