Garage trusses and storage

[ratdoggy]

I have a new house and want to put some plywood up in the attic to use as flooring. Mainly so if I go up there I won't go through the ceiling . I also want to put some light things up there. I was going to put either 1/2 or 3/4 inch plywood up there cut to fit between the truss stringers and go 90 degrees to the trusses is this OK?

 

[redline9k]

generally engineered (prefab) trusses are not meant to hold weight in the horizontal direction (weight you put on the truss from above). The only reason those cross beams are there is to tie the two roof joists together.

your setup might differ, but most garage's that have an open ceiling do not have the necessary support to hold weight on the horizontal truss sections.

If you put anything up there, keep it light.

 

[rburke65]

Yes keep it light.... it is anticipated that the home owner will store "stuff" in the attic when the truess are manufactured.......I have read somewhere.

 

[ratdoggy]

I'm hoping it will hold up me at the very least. I just don't like the looks of the damn things. I always seem to overbuild something and these look way too light. I pretty much want to put up some catwalks to be able to run electric and air lines. I was thinking patio umbrella stuff like that

 

[gatchel]

The trusses I will be using in my garage build will be engineered to hold weight. The biggest board is a 2X6. They clear span 20 feet. You should be fine. Use discretion...

 

[Tomwall]

When I built my garage I went back to the truss manufacturer and asked what I could do to strengthen my trusses. I got about 15-20 % increase load capacity by running a 12 foot 2x6 along the 24 foot bottom plate. I just sistered them up and nailed them in. If you can get to the trusses something like this may help.

 

[robertlynk]

Take dimensions of trusses and make a drawing and take to local truss company and ask the to run the dims on their truss software program and they can tell you total load capacity dead(static) and live(dynamic) then calc out the roof covering load and you will know