Roof Trusses Distance Apart

The bay is the space within the truss and the longitudinal joining members are purlins.

Roof trusses distance apart.

Their defense is our engineers will not allow us to. So the space between rafters can be greater without reducing the maximum span. For many traditional stick frame builders trusses spaced 8 feet apart seems unnatural but thanks to the ingenuity of modern engineering it is a very common building design. With this design change roof trusses could be placed 12 feet apart making it possible for roofs to support the loads to which they would be subjected.

Putting the trusses into place. Most economical when the difference in slope between the top and bottom chords is at least 3 12 or the bottom chord pitch is no more than half the top chord pitch. These are typically spaced at certain intervals to provide the necessary support for the roof. In addition each roofing truss will be made of a two by four piece of lumber or in areas with expected or usual heavy snow fall there will be trusses which are two inches by six inches.

I ve had roof truss manufacturers try to convince me it is impossible to place wood trusses at spacings of over every 4 feet. With traditional stick frame construction the trusses are usually spaced 2 feet apart. Common spacing for trusses on this type of building is often between 2 and 4 feet but trusses built with advanced designs may allow spacing as great as 8 or 12 feet. Most are spaced between 18 26 inches apart.

A 10 8 6 and 4 spacing between trusses has been the standard for most types of construction for years. Once you ve calculated the number of trusses you will need you should purchase the lumber. The same concept holds true for roof trusses. Flat the most economical flat truss for a roof is provided when the depth of the truss in inches is approximately equal to 7 of the span in inches.