Hello
I would like to build a living space above my rv garage. My trusses are designed for a living space but I am wondering just how much load I can have. Do I have just enough margin, not enough or do I have nothing to worry about. I want to have a living room, bedroom, a small effiency kitchen and a bathroom with toliet and shower. The water heater would be located on the ground level and my heat source woud be a mini split. My truss drawing is attached but I don’t know how to interupt it. Can anyone provide some feed back.
Thank You
Rick
Replies
These trusses are NOT designed for a living space. They are designed for limited storage. You CANNOT build a living space.
See that splice plate in the bottom chord?
You could make a living space IF (big IF) you can put a beam under those splie points.
Probably 2 beams, as the builder probably have some splice plates on the other sid(LH vs RH)
If you had to ask about the truss, you likely need somebody to design the beams for you. How much space ydo your have above the RV?
The answer is "No"
The answer to your question is a simple "no". Truss and pitch are designed for "limited storage", with a 10PSF live load rating. The span, 34', is large. To create habitable space you would need to sister in TJIs. They would need to be tapered where they lie on the end walls, raising further design questions. If you want habitable space you would do well to re-frame the roof.
The answer is "No"
The answer to your question is a simple "no". Truss and pitch are designed for "limited storage", with a 10PSF live load rating. The span, 34', is large. To create habitable space you would need to sister in TJIs. They would need to be tapered where they lie on the end walls, raising further design questions. If you want habitable space you would do well to re-frame the roof.
I've been in the truss business almost continuously since 1984, so I can tell you with some authority that those trusses were definitely designed for typicall residential floor loads.
The guys who said otherwise don't know what they're talking about.
The reactions given definately indicate some live load capacity in the attic area. (2800 # reaction given and the roof loads given would be closer to 1500#). I would recommend contacting the truss supplier and they can confirm.
The one thing that I woud DEFINATELY NOT reccomend is supporting the splice at the bottom chord without specific instruction from the truss supplier. I know that supporting a spice sounds like it could only help, but changing the support conditions of a truss not only redistributes loads in uncertain ways potentially leading to failure of joints or members, but it will also void any warranty the truss supplier provides. In this case, supporting that splice would likely atract alot of load the the joint adjacent to the support and could cause joint failure, or bottom chord shear issues.