Scissor Truss/Lift Questions??

redairrdstr · Oct 1, 2012

Hello,

My wife and I are planning a new house/outbuilding. We are still early on in the planning process as we are not breaking ground until next spring. However, now that we are getting the house plan squared away, I would like to start collecting some quotes on a building. To get accurate/comparable quotes I need to start figuring out exactly what I want and can get away with for wall heights.

Ideally, I was thinking I could have 10' walls so that the building wouldn't overpower the house and it would be less space to heat. The complication is that I definitely am putting a lift in this garage. I was thinking I could use scissor trusses on one bay to get clearance. I want to be able to lift something like a full size longbed 4x4 without any problems and just don't know if I can get away with this since the doors will be on the eave side of the building.

So what do you think? Anyone with a similar configuration care to chime in? or would I be better off to just go standard trusses and 12 foot walls across the board?

Other Rough specs of the building are as follows
-36'x48' pole barn construction, metal siding/roof
-one 16' wide and one 10' wide (to lift bay) OHD on the 48' side
-man door on short side
-radiant floor heat

Thanks in advance for any advice/opinions,
Jeremy

mellamoesrico · Oct 1, 2012

Assume that the bottom chord of your scissor truss is 2 on 12 pitch, which would normally be paired with 4 on 12 top chord pitch. With ten foot side walls, the peak height under that scissor truss is 13 foot. And for 12 feet on either side of the peak (toward side walls), you would have at least 12 foot clearance height for lifting vehicles. Should be plenty, as long as you can put the lift directly under the peak (or very near it).

BMW Rider · Oct 1, 2012

I did pretty much exactly that with my addition onto my garage this year. I used 9' walls with the scissor trusses having a 6-12 top pitch and a 4-12 bottom pitch. The span of the trusses is 20', so I ended up with just over 12' to the peak inside. I only needed to get enough height for my mustang on the top of the lift and for my wife BMW 335i to fit under. Depending on what span and roof pitch you can use, you should be able to gain enough extra height for a larger pair of vehicles. I had to use a highlift door with angled tracks and a sidemount opener to ensure the door does not interfere with the lift, but with the size of building you're planning, you should be able to set the lift far enough in to not have to worry about the door.

bczygan · Oct 1, 2012

Something to think about. If you are in a colder region and will be insulating your attic space, make sure the heel of your truss, scissors or otherwise, has the height to allow the needed depth of insulation to continue all the way to the outside of the wall to provide a continuous and adequate envelope.

redairrdstr · Oct 1, 2012

Thanks for the comments and ideas. I appreciate the input.

bczygan said:
Something to think about. If you are in a colder region and will be insulating your attic space, make sure the heel of your truss, scissors or otherwise, has the height to allow the needed depth of insulation to continue all the way to the outside of the wall to provide a continuous and adequate envelope.

This is a good point I wouldn't have thought of! That is why I thought I better start early...

thanks guys

darkk · Oct 2, 2012

We went for 13' ceiling for our lift install. We did afull second floor also with 11' vaulted ceiling...

stingry · Oct 2, 2012

similar situation, I wanted a lift but didn't want or need 12' high ceiling throughout the entire shop. I used coffer trusses for the lift area. These gave me 12' clearance for the lift. The ceiling height is 10'.

View media item 7636
Cheers
Steve

RTcat · Oct 2, 2012

My shop is 32 x 50 with 10' ceilings. Like Stingry I went with coffered trusses. Mine have a 3' rise. With radiant heat, I didn't want a lot of unused "air space"

I can lift my '04 Chevy crew cab to max height with no problems. Just make sure your coffer area is large enough to fit what you want to lift above 10'

sublimate · Oct 2, 2012

RTcat said:
With radiant heat, I didn't want a lot of unused "air space"

I always thought radiant heat was the best heating method with a lot of "unused air space", since it heats the floor instead of the air.

RTcat · Oct 2, 2012

sublimate said:
I always thought radiant heat was the best heating method with a lot of "unused air space", since it heats the floor instead of the air.

That is true. The "farmer engineer" in me is just used to the old way of heating things...and in the old days less area to heat was less money spent on fuel source.

mikey531 · Oct 2, 2012

I am putting up my trusses next Monday I went with scissor and attic 22' scissor and 18' of attic. I will post pictures hopefully Monday night !!! I did do an offset so the center would be over my middle bay. The garage is 36 x 40.

wef · Oct 2, 2012

My garage is 28'x28' with 10' walls plus 1 course of 8" block, 2x plates for a total height of a bout 11'. Regular trusses were used for 1/2 the building and scissor trusses were used for the half where the lift would be. There is a commercial ceiling fan at the peak of the scissor trusses with a 2' drop rod. 2 hours ago I changed oil in our Yukon that stands 6'5" (the same as our K2500HD 4x4 Silverado). It was raised so that I was standing comfortably (I'm 5' 10") and easily reach up for the drain plug and filter. In other words it was at the ideal height. The roof of the Yukon was maybe 6" below the fan. Our C6 Corvette can be raised high enough to park the K2500HD under it. Scissor trusses are the way to go.

redairrdstr · Oct 4, 2012

RTcat said:
My shop is 32 x 50 with 10' ceilings. Like Stingry I went with coffered trusses. Mine have a 3' rise. With radiant heat, I didn't want a lot of unused "air space" I can lift my '04 Chevy crew cab to max height with no problems. Just make sure your coffer area is large enough to fit what you want to lift above 10'

I hadn't thought of using this type of truss. It looks like you have the same entry as I am planning (same direction as trusses). So it looks like you have a squared off area, which gives the 3 foot rise and then tapered back at the ends? How far does the 3' height span before it tapers down?

sublimate said:
I always thought radiant heat was the best heating method with a lot of "unused air space", since it heats the floor instead of the air.

I am still learning about the radiant heat. I guess I assumed the heat would radiate to he air in order to raise the room temperature, making more air space a factor in heating cost. Am I wrong about this? I can see why it would still be the best choice for a shop with "unused air space" since the heat starts at ground level and rises, but I would think if the air temperature is to rise more space would still be a variable in heating cost?

mikey531 said:
I am putting up my trusses next Monday I went with scissor and attic 22' scissor and 18' of attic. I will post pictures hopefully Monday night !!! I did do an offset so the center would be over my middle bay. The garage is 36 x 40.

Looking forward to seeing the pics!!

Thanks again for all the feedback, it has been very helpful

BMW Rider · Oct 4, 2012

redairrdstr said:
I am still learning about the radiant heat. I guess I assumed the heat would radiate to he air in order to raise the room temperature, making more air space a factor in heating cost. Am I wrong about this? I can see why it would still be the best choice for a shop with "unused air space" since the heat starts at ground level and rises, but I would think if the air temperature is to rise more space would still be a variable in heating cost?

Radiant heating does not heat the air at all, it heats solid objects only. The system pumps heat into the solid concrete floor which then radiates the heat out through the air and it is then absorbed by solid objects in the space, including the occupants. Its the same as the sun warming the solid earth while outer space and the atmoshphere remain cold.

With a radiant floor, you do have a temperature gradient with the floor being warmer than the higher points in the space which is an ideal situation since none (or very few) of us live on the ceiling. You'll find that you won't need as high a temperature setting as you would normally to feel comfortable in the space, and all that stuff about concrete being so hard to stand on for long periods is a non issue. Since the floor is now warm, your feet stay warm and thus have better circulation and less fatigue. The temperature recovery after a door is opened is very rapid since all those warmed objects quickly radiate the heat back to you.

I did my garage/shop with radiant floor heating when I built it and would never consider anything else if I were to do it again.

RTcat · Oct 5, 2012

redairrdstr said:
I hadn't thought of using this type of truss. It looks like you have the same entry as I am planning (same direction as trusses). So it looks like you have a squared off area, which gives the 3 foot rise and then tapered back at the ends? How far does the 3' height span before it tapers down?

I want to say either 12' for 14'...I can't remember for sure. Shoot me a PM so I remember to look at my truss plans this weekend.

Yes, my entry is "with" the trusses. On 10' door in line with the hoist and another 10' door right next to it, two feet away.

I like the look that the angle gives off in the shop, but for my first time hanging drywall, that was defininatly the hardest area to hang.

Scissor Truss/Lift Questions??

redairrdstr

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mellamoesrico

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