06-27-2008, 07:52 AM
quote:
Originally posted by maggieblanchett
Hi Carey, thanks for the tip. I noticed that hawaiian houses seem to have really low pitch roofs. Is there a reason for this?
Why are truss plates a difficulty? I wonder if wood gussets are used in any way...
--maggie
Maggie - you can definately do site built trusses. There is usually a design your draftsperson can include for the architect to stamp. It does include wood gussets made out of plywood. I have a sample of the drawing if you need it. They arent hard to do, just more labor intensive. If you are doing all the labor yourself, it does save money. If you have a paid carpenter building the trusses, you dont save any money over site built versus pre-manufactured from HPM, Honsador or Big ISland Truss Systems. They are about even up in that case.
Low pitched roofs are common here because (and these are only my thoughts) 1) easier & cheaper to build (you increase materials when you raise the pitch over the same distance) 2) ventilate easier 3) no snow load to worry about - since we only have to worry about water runoff - it will run off even a 1/12 pitch. 4) easier to walk on to do anything on the roof - those of you from cold climates can probably attest to trying to do work on a 6/12 pitch. SCARY!
-Cat
Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management
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