Hello all, I have a 26X30 detached garage with a hip roof. 10′ inside ceiling height. I would like build some suspended shelving over some areas to take advantage of all of the head room. How can I determine what kind of weight it will support?. It is roofed with asphalt shingles and the roof trusses are your garden variety 2X4 type.
Any advice is appreciated.
David
In certain scenarios, flat roofs make more sense than pitched roofs (and vice versa).
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Replies
I am not an engineer, but here in PA trusses are designed for a roof load plus an extra 5lbs. sf. The sf is the sheathed area of the roof, a plane. The trick here is to spread the load over the entire truss, which is itself a plane. In other words, if you put a chain hoist on the bottom chord of a truss and try to pull an engine, the individual truss will fail, and possibly the entire roof system.
Practically speaking, you can hang a couple of light items, such as a bicycle from a truss with no ill effects
I hope an engineer checks in to help you,
How can I determine what kind of weight it will support?. It is roofed with asphalt shingles and the roof trusses are your garden variety 2X4 type.
There was short discussion of this a few months ago - the short answer is that they aren't designed for storage.
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I am sure boss will jump in here but I think most truss structures are actually designed for around 200 # point loadsOn An Island By The SEA
"...I think most truss structures are actually designed for around 200 # point loads."
Nope - Not unless it's something that's required by local code. It would make roof trusses aheck of a lot more expensive.If you cross poison ivy with four-leaf clovers maybe you'll get a rash of good luck?
There's no way anyone here can tell you without seeing exactly what you're planning on storing, what type of attachment medhods you're going to use, and then analyzing the efects on the trusses.
But - You'll probably be O.K. if you don't overdo it, and are careful about where you attach the shelf supports. If you notice the trusses are starting to sag you can always pull the stuff down.
Since you have a hip roof, you should have a couple of girder trusses that have a bunch of jacks framing into them. They're much heavier, and more likely to support additional loads without problems.
Attaching the suspension points at joints in the trusses will also help.
If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.