Plans for my Pole Garage

Hi everybody, Im almost ready to build my Pole garage. As it is right now, my dimensions are 38' wide and 22' deep. Im going to be insulating it with thin rolls of insulation between the sheet metal and wood frame. Im going to be using gravel for a floor, no slab. I plan to have 2 16x7 manual garage doors on the front side (38') I am however debating a slant roof vs. a conventional roof made from Trusses. If i go with the conv style, I will probably end up buying the trusses prebuilt. I was thinking about a slant roof because im on a budget and it would be easier to when it comes to putting metal on, but im concerned about strength and that would cut out some of the storage that comes with a regualr style roof. Ive heard guys talking about a ratio when it comes to roof trusses. I think its something like 5:12 or simular. What is that? Dose it depend on the size of your garage or something or more just preference? Thanks.

The ratio that you are talking to is referring to the "pitch" of the roof. Your example of 5:12 would equate to 5" of rise for every 12" of run. It's the slope of your roof and it's mostly a preference thing. A steeper pitch would allow for more attic storage, but would be more difficult to put your roofing material on. A shallower pitch would be easier to roof, but you'd lose storage area and if you get the pitch shallow enough, you could run into a problem with not having enough slope to keep snow from building up (depending on where you live).

beardking said:

The ratio that you are talking to is referring to the "pitch" of the roof. Your example of 5:12 would equate to 5" of rise for every 12" of run. It's the slope of your roof and it's mostly a preference thing. A steeper pitch would allow for more attic storage, but would be more difficult to put your roofing material on. A shallower pitch would be easier to roof, but you'd lose storage area and if you get the pitch shallow enough, you could run into a problem with not having enough slope to keep snow from building up (depending on where you live).

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Thank You Not to be a pest, but are there designated pitches that you have to go by or can it be something i make up myself (within reason)? Obviosly i dont want to make a flat roof, but i'd like kind of a shallow pitch. Basically what im getting at is what is a low pitch limit for me so that it still is a strong roof and it doesnt cave in?? And i shouldn't have to worry about snow a whole lot, we dont get much here in the Tacoma, WA Area. Thanks again.

Basically the pitch tends to be x:12, meaning 'x' rise over 12" run. A common pitch is 4:12, but it really is just up to whatever you find appealing, for the most part. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of experience with pitched roofs. It seems like for the entire 13 years that I've been in architecture, I may have done 1 pitched roof in that time. The strength of the roof will be determined by the structural members and the spacing of them. The pitch really doesn't contribute that much to that. As long as the structural members are designed for the pitch, you should be fine.

I am new here and dont want to cause trouble but why only 22 deep? My first shop was 24 x 26 and it was too small. Last one I built is 30x48 and just deep enough for tool box and my F350 crew cab. Was able to change engine but just barely. I have a truss roof with over hangs for looks. Do you just work on samm things?