Technical Q&A

  • The requirements for fire generally take precedence over those for sound.
  • What is good for fire performance may not be good for sound performance. The reverse is also true.
  • Determining sound ratings is a building designer or specialty engineering re-sponsibility, so be sure not to take on any design work responsibility that falls beyond your scope of work.
  • Homeowners and building officials alike often wonder if damaged trusses should be replaced or repaired.
  • If a truss is damaged or altered it does not need to be replaced but it must be repaired.
  • It is important to repair a damaged truss because truss members can quickly become overloaded if a truss is damaged or altered.
  • After a long struggle to keep in compliance with covenants in their credit agreement and a failed recapitalization attempt, Trussway’s only option was to restructure the company financially.
  • Their financial restructuring was completely via a five-month pre-packaged Chapter 11 filing process.
  • Trussway’s financial storm dating back to 1998 has finally blown over, and the company is enjoying financial health, prosperity and growth in its core multi-family segment.
  • Dead loads are projected horizontally for truss design.
  • Truss technicians must be clear on whether they need to adjust the input design dead load values for slope or if the software will do it for them.
  • Slope adjustments become more critical with steeper pitches.
  • ANSI/TPI 1-2002 has several new provisions that you will need to get used to as you change over from the 1995 version. 
  • Some floor truss designs created with 1995 provisions may develop "chunk-out" errors when they are re-analyzed with ANSI/TPI 1-2002.
  • Doubling the particular web or chord in that section will solve the problem.
  • Three basic questions can help a homeowner determine whether or not a wall is load bearing.
  • A carpenter or engineer should be consulted before a homeowner proceeds with a partition wall removal.
  • Differential deflection is not a structural problem, but can be a significant appearance issue.
  • Designing the roof or floor system to account for dead and live load deflections of adjacent trusses is critical to providing sound solutions.
  • Strongback bridging can help distribute loads and reduce deflection issues.
  • WTCA has a great deal of information that can help make the inspection of trusses easier to understand and perform.
  • Truss designers and truss manufacturers only provide individual truss inspection information.
  • The roof or floor truss system inspection information must come from the owner, builder/framer or building designer.