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I have a 20 year old home that has a truss uplift problem. For about 20 feet through the center of the house, I get a crack sometimes up to half an inch that develops along the ceiling and goes away in the summer.
Now that I finally have a name for my problem, what can I do in an existing home? Unfortunately, I found out about drywall clips and such about 20 years too late.
Thanks for your help.
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Replies
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Not that I would want to do it . How about some kind of crown moulding or other trim detail at the cieling line attached only to the cieling. Did crown in the bedroom and learned I am a framer first and a trimmer somwhere way down the list.
jim
*Richard,Is there anything inherent in such vertically sliding connection hardware as the Strong-Tie, Roof Truss Clip that prevents its use as a corrective retrofit? Strong-Tie’s vertically sliding connection hardware is a sort of bracket that accommodates the seasonal deflection of the lower chord of an engineered truss. You can view a graphic representation and read more about its suggested use under the alphabetically listed item name “STC/STCT/DTC Roof Truss Clips” at:http://www.strongtie.com/fr_contractor.htmlIn order to use it as a retrofit, you ought “sawzall” or hack saw any current “inflexible” connectors between the bottom chord(s) and top plate(s) of interior walls and substitute for them the Strong-Tie item that permits the flex of the bottom chord. If the bottom chord is heaving there may already be a fastener-exposing gap to allow the insertion of a blade to sever them. If the subject hardware is properly installed and the gypsum board ceiling was hung by “floating” the perimeter edges, this ought to solve, or at least mitigate, the ceiling/wall gapping. Ideally the Strong-Tie item to which I refer would be installed at time of construction but there's likely nothing preventing its use as a corrective retrofit if you have access to the attic. Good luck.
*We've discussed this several times in the past. Try searching the archives for "truss uplift" and see what pops up. If you can't find anything there, post back and I'll try to provide more info.
*Richard, my last house had the same severe uplift. Fortunatly, the tape in the corner never seperated. I'd always end up with a "rolled" interior corner in winter.Since you have cracks appearing, your problem is worse. A crown mold would hide it, providing that it is allowed to float upward freely. That doesn't sound like a perfect solution.Heres the real "fix". You have to go into the attic, and seperate the board from the trusses for about 12-24" at the interior partitions. Then, nail backing blocks inbetween the trusses without attaching to the trusses. The trusses will still lift, there is no way to prevent that, but the board will remain at it's wall intersection position. There will be a little bow in the ceiling that will be almost invisible.blue
*Thanks for all the advice. Unfortunately, molding won’t work since it impacts four rooms and just wouldn’t look right. I suppose it’s up to the attic I go, to have another look. Thanks again.
*Ron, Richard's post indicates that the "uplift" is 20ft through the "center" of the house. [?] And he has an attic. I though truss lift most commonly occured in a cantilever installation .... on the outside, load-bearing wall. Could the house be heaving from frozen footings and flexing the walls upward along the outside perimeter? Just a thought. Scott
*Scott,My house is 32' deep and is built with bonus room trusses ( we wanted an attic ). The bottom chord is a 2 x 10 and it is floored with 3/4 OSB. It is loaded only slightly with storage so far, but the trusses have uplifted at least a 1/2" from the center walls in this cold weather. All of the truss uplift discussions I have heard and read about deal with trusses supported at the outside walls and the uplift occouring at center span.Frank DuVal
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I have a 20 year old home that has a truss uplift problem. For about 20 feet through the center of the house, I get a crack sometimes up to half an inch that develops along the ceiling and goes away in the summer.
Now that I finally have a name for my problem, what can I do in an existing home? Unfortunately, I found out about drywall clips and such about 20 years too late.
Thanks for your help.