I will be putting up gable trusses on a new garage Monday, and am thinking about using Simpson’s “truss spacers,” a 24″ long brace stamped out of sheet metal which (theoretically) helps speed installation and improve accuracy by easily connecting the truss I am installing to the preceeding one. Anyone tried these? Any feedback or tips?
Thanks, –Brian Abbott
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Replies
If they are they fold out kind I have used them, they are easier than nailing boards on.
But they are not for bracing, be sure to add 2x bracing if you are not going to sheet the trusses quickly.
I use them on my frames, just watch out for the points. I have a lot of good scars from them, they are sharp.
We use them all the time. Mark the location for attaching them to your trusses while they are on the ground.
If you have spacings different than the 2' span, clip the spacers to the right dimension before you have the truss hanging party.
We just layout long pieces of 1x3 the same as the marks on top of the plate. You don't have to carry anything extra in your pockets. Anytime you use something where slight errors can accumulate you can get into trouble. It's like laying out your stud spaces by stepping off from each preceding mark instead of stretching out a tape. 1/32" isn't a problem until you add several 1/32's". With spacers, you have to make sure they go in straight and fit tightly. If your 1x3's are the same length and markings as your top plate, you can't go wrong. You have to use short pieces when using a crane for large trusses. If you are flipping them up by hand, you can stick a 16 footer out there. They help steady the trusses a little and the installer just has to tack a couple of nails on the mark. With some installations, like hips or dormers, we make a spacer but we still pull out the tape just to double check.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
As someone already said - Don't depend on spacers to act as bracing. That's my pet peeve with them.
I went out to investigate a job once where all the trusses had fallen over. they were tying to use spacers to set the trusses as fast as possible. It was a long run of maybe 150' on a commercial building, so there were a lot of trusses.
What sticks in my mind were row after row of truss spacers, and only a pair of 2X4s for bracing. There were probably $8,000 worth of trusses laying on the floor, broken into useless pieces. The exterior walls had also been blown out, and required a lot of repair.
The job ws set back about 2 weeks, and it cost the GC (or his insurance company) something like $15 or 20 grand by the time it was cleaned up and he bought a new set of trusses.
I wouldn't suggest setting more than 2 or 3 trusses efore you cmoe back and add wood bracing to stiffen things up.
And don't forget the diagonals, to brace the bracing...
Thanks for everyone's thoughts. No, these are not the fold-out style, they are separate 2' pieces. And, yes, cumulative error and additional bracing will be things for me to pay attention to. Hope to have trusses installed and sheathed by the end of the day, --I'll put in the 2x bracing underneath too because I believe the manufacturer wants to see it anyway.Thanks all, --Brian
Brian, we always use a 2x4 stud for our temporary lacing. We use one stud for every two trusses. That gives us plenty of studs up there on the roof for the future needs such as toeboards and other miscelaneous roof framing (collar ties etc). I spent my first fifteen years in the business using all sorts of different methods and after I discovered how easy it was to handle the studs up in the air while setting and their many uses, I've never tried another method, nor would I want to.
92 5/8 studs are the perfect lacers. We slam twenty on the floor and careully pull the layouts across them all at one time. If you use a sharp pencil there won't be enough gain in the layout to affect anything especially on something small like garage.
blueOur Skytrak is sold. Frank sold it for 47k cash. I'm now officially retired as a carpenter. I've offered to fill in for Frank in emergencies, but when he calls, I'll probably say no LOL!